


The Fortunate Ones

by theriverlea



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 46,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24922045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriverlea/pseuds/theriverlea
Summary: Cassandra enters Love Island on Day 14 as one of 6 new girls coming in for the Casa Amor challenge. She is fresh off a break up and not ready to be open to the process but has packed all of her bathing suits and night out looks and is ready to at least enjoy the Spanish sun for the couple of days of Casa Amor and maybe try to melt the icy heart of the quiet librarian who seems to not want to get to know her at all.
Relationships: Noah/Main Character (Love Island)
Comments: 76
Kudos: 221





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be a slow burn to start and a little AU with what I am planning on doing on some of the recoupling ceremonies but I wanted to see what would happen if the MC was a bombshell from Casa Amor

“Hello boys, I’m Emily. I’m 20 and a bartender in Manchester and I would love to impress you with my cocktail skills.” With this, Emily gave the line up of boys a big wink and then turned to the girls as though challenging them to beat her entry. 

Cassandra watched, wide eyed, before realizing it was now her turn to speak. She turned her head back to the guys and wondered, once again, how she found herself in the Love Island villa. She tugged at the flimsy string of her bikini top, hoping that despite it feeling cheap that it was built better than it felt.

“Hi,” Cass started, avoiding the urge to cross her arms as she felt the eyes of the men upon her. “My name is Cassandra, you can call me Cass, I am from Lewes and I am 21.” She focused at a point just beyond Gary’s head as she spoke. 

“And what do you do, lass?” Bobby said. 

“This,” she said, looking at him. “I just graduated school, and thought what could I do with my degree? And when looking at the opportunities, reality television is the only thing that stood out to me.” Bobby’s jaw opened slightly at the response. 

Why had she let her friends talk her into this? They had said it was going to be a perfect way to get over her ex-boyfriend and Jess’s cousin was in the casting department for the show. Cassandra had said no, remembered loudly declining and then, when faced with the actual opportunity to come on the show, had agreed.

Why, she asked herself, had she agreed? 

“Sorry, I mean that I just graduated, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do,” Cass said, closing her mouth into a tight lipped smile as the next girls went and introduced themselves. Cass kept the smile on, watching the guys switch their attention from Shannon to Blake to Siobhan and finally to Sophie. When the introductions were complete, Noah’s phone dinged.

“I’ve got a text,” he said and the girls squealed.

“He’s got a text,” Emily said, elbowing Cass. “Feels real now innit?”

Cass tuned out as she looked at Noah, studying his face. She had watched the episodes available to them during sequester and she was immediately suspicious of the quiet librarian. Probably because he reminded her deeply of her ex boyfriend, the one that had broken her heart just a week before she signed on to the show. While she knew it wasn’t fair to judge him just based on the fact that his eyes were the exact same color of Theodore’s, she had made a vow to stay away from him during her time here. However, that smirk he made as the girl’s squealed in the line over getting a text (seriously, Cass wondered, was that all it took?) made her heart drop. 

She was surprised to find that she wanted him. 

She wanted him because of and despite reminding her of Theodore. She wanted him because she had watched his face light up around Hope and wanted that for herself. And, to be completely honest, she wanted him because he looked like that. Drop dead, completely gorgeous. 

Putting him with the house of the other boys was unfair to the others. Although, they all looked better in person than on television. 

Ibrahim, who came off quiet and shy in the episodes she had seen, looked like he had a confidence that didn’t portray well on screen. She took in his face, watched as he bit his lips as he looked at the girls. That was a boy who wasn’t shy in the bedroom she would reckon. 

And then there was Gary, the crane operator. Cass thought he came off a little goofy on screen, his eyebrows just a shade too dark, his muscles too large for his frame- but in person, it all worked. She could see how and why Lottie would have taken solace in him after that girl Hannah left.

Lucas was dreamy- too posh for her liking, but she had to admit that it worked for him. She would have to make an effort with him, but she liked how he looked with his dark hair that was perfectly styled and his chiseled body that looked too good to be real.

If she was being honest, and she always tried to be at least somewhat truthful, Bobby and Jakub were not her taste but they both looked good standing in the sun. Jakub’s body was insane. If Gary’s muscles were impressive, his looked like he belonged in the world’s strongest man competition. He looked like he could crush her and while that wasn’t what she was looking for, Cass knew that some girls were into it. In fact, she had watched Emily make eye contact with him the entire time the rest of the girls were speaking. And Bobby- what a sweet boy he came across on the telly. She hoped he was as sweet in real life as she wouldn’t mind testing his skills in the kitchen. 

The casting department had done a good job with this cast. 

“Cass?”

“What?” Cass said, snapping out of her thoughts.

“Wow, you completely tuned out everything, didn’t you?” Emily asked, laughing. “We’re supposed to be doing a speed date set up. We’re going to be sitting while the guys go around and ask us questions. Should be a laugh, I think. However, if Jakub shows any interest- back off, he’s mine.”

Emily laughed as she said it but Cass sensed that she was completely serious. “He is all yours,” she said, walking with Emily to the tables. She sat down at the one with her name on it, uncomfortably perching on the hot chair. Her legs stuck to the metal and she pulled again at her bathing suit to make sure nothing slipped out. The bathing suit that was picked for her (she had offered up some other options) was low cut, showing off her chest in a way that made her blush. 

The first guy at her table was Ibrahim. They waited for the go ahead and then started a brief conversation. 

“Cass, right?” he said, smiling at her and then biting his lip- the same move he had done earlier when they were all in a line up. 

“A good memory,” Cass said. “You’re the golfer?”

“I am, do you golf much?”

“Never, but I appreciate the outfits you all wear.”

“Outfits?”

A buzzer was heard and the guys stood up and switched seats.

“I’m Gary, nice to meet you,” the crane operator said, jutting out his hand.

“Cass,” she replied, shaking his hand. 

“And what are your thoughts on the lads?”

“Better looking in person,” she admitted. “What do you think of the ladies?”

He smirked, “Well, I certainly am not complaining although Lottie would kill me-“

The buzzer sounded again.

“They don’t call it speed dating for nothing.”

Cass watched as Jakub approached.

“I’m Cass, you are Jakub and you are already spoken for,” she smirked. 

“I am spoken for by the lovely Hope,” he nodded. “But in here, anything is fair game.”

“I meant by the lovely Emily over there.”

“Ah,” Jakub said, peering over Cass’s shoulder. “The red head. I could do with a red head.”

Cass laughed as the buzzer went off. 

“Cassandra, can I call you Cassandra?” Lucas sat down, offering his hand.

“This seems very formal,” Cass said, shaking it. 

“I thought trying to go in for the hug would have wasted some precious seconds.”

“Are they precious?”

“They might be. What are you looking for in Love Island?”

“Love and an island, isn’t that what we all are in here for?” she said, trying to get him to break a smile. 

“Some. Some want instagram followers.”

“I don’t have an Instagram,” Cass said, as the buzzer sounded. It was technically true. After Theodore dumped her, she had deleted all of her socials for awhile. Her friends had made her reactive her Instagram before she was shipped off to Spain, but it seemed more theirs than hers now. 

“I hope we can continue this in a bit,” Lucas said as he stood. 

“Me too,” she said, surprising herself in how sincerely she felt about it.

“Cassandra bo bandra banana fo fandra-“

Cassandra laughed politely as Bobby continued his rhyme. “Do you do that for all the girls?”

“Just the ones I like and I happen to think I like you all,” Bobby replied, flicking his head to the side a bit. 

“Ah, so I’m not special then. That’s a shame, mate.”

Bobby put his hands over his heart, pretending to slink back in his chair. “Mate? Mate? Are you already putting me in the mate category?”

She laughed at the theatrics. “Sorry, love. I will be honest, I don't think you're my type. I wish you were, I would love to go for a nice boy for once..”

“Rip that piece of paper out, throw it away and get a fresh piece of paper. On it just write one word - Bobby."

The buzzer sounded. 

Noah was in front of her, quietly pulling out the chair to sit in front of her. “Hi.”

“Hello,” she replied, trying to gauge the energy level. “Noah?”

“That’s right,” he said, leaning back in his chair. 

She copied his motion, leaning back in her own chair. The two of them sat in silence for the remaining of the round until the buzzer sounded again. He nodded at her as he stood up and moved on to the next girl.

That was weird, Cass thought. She could sense Ibrahim sitting down but turned her head to watch Noah laughing at something Emily must have said. 

Did he hate her already?


	2. Chapter 2

“What’s his deal?” Cass asked as Bobby sat back down, her eyes trained on Noah. She couldn’t help it, she was hooked.

“Who?” Bobby asked, dramatically turning around his chair to scope out the others. “Damn, it’s always the quiet ones.” His face fell slightly and then he quickly adjusted and smiled again. “He’s in love, lass. Doesn’t it come off on the telly?” 

“With Hope?”

“And she was tragically taken away from him.”

“I thought you weren’t into them,” she stated, crossing her arms as she remembered the Operation Nope that he, Priya and Catherine had collaborated on.

Bobby laughed, “Think I might have been wrong on that one.”

He stood as the buzzer sounded, “Play nice, Cassandra.”

Cassandra watched Noah in what seemed like slow motion walk over to the chair and slowly, painfully slowly, take a seat. Cassandra stayed quiet as he tilted his head to the side as they both waited for the sound. She was tempted to break the silence, ask what she had done that was so offensive to the librarian, but she stayed steady and refused to break eye contact.

The buzzer sounded again. Noah stood, “Nice to meet you, Cassandra.” 

Cassandra bobbed her head slightly in response but stayed seated. She was going to will herself back home. Perhaps if she didn’t go mingle with the rest, the production team would remove her and fill her spot with someone more willing to put up with a grumpy librarian’s mind games. 

“Girls, we need to have a chat,” Emily said, motioning for the group of girls to follow her in to the villa. “Space cadet, that means you as well.” Emily looked pointedly at Cass and Cass reluctantly peeled her legs off the hot metal and trailed the other girls into the bedroom.

* * *

Emily sat down on a bed, “What are everyone’s thoughts? I have a thing for the big one,” she said flushing. “Jakub. He is a bit of me.”

“He’s hot,” Siobhan chimed in.

Emily glared at her, “Yes, he is. I will be asking him if he wants to share a bed with me. And he will say yes. So I wanted to get the rest of you together to figure out game plans for you guys. I think we should make it a goal that we all get into the villa.”

Shannon snorted and then covered her mouth. “Sorry, just the odds of us all making it back into the villa are basically zero. You have Noah besotted with Hope, Gary who is not going to risk the wrath of Lottie, Lucas with Catherine. That leaves Jakub, Ibrahim, and Bobby. At most, three of us will go back. And taking out Ibrahim because I’ve decided that he will be my goal, that leaves you all with two choices.”

“And what if we don’t like those choices?” Sophie asked, twisting her blonde hair around her finger.

“Then you are just a blip on the Wikipedia page for the season,” Blake said, standing from the bed with a hand on her hip. “And I am no blip, ladies. So while it was nice speaking with you all, it’s time for me to go out there and banter and hope Shannon is wrong. Lucas and Noah are both lush and I am not going to come in here and not at least try it on them.”

Shannon met Cass’s eye and dramatically rolled her eyes. “Good luck, Blake.”

“I don’t need luck, hun.” Blake walked out of the room leaving the rest of the five still sitting on the beds. 

Emily shrugged, “Who needs her? As long as she isn’t aiming for Jakub, I truly do not give a shit. What are the rest of you thinking? What is the bed plan?”

“Why don’t we spend more than 30 seconds of a quick speed round before we stake our claim on any of these guys?” Cassandra spoke, rising from the bed. “I think it’s great that some of you have some obvious plans on how to get into the villa, but after meeting all of them- I do not see it for me right now. I am going to go out, have a good time and see what happens. Enough of the planning bullshit. You know what they say about best laid plans.” 

Cassandra walked out from the room and almost walked straight into Bobby. “Ah, Cassandra, I was looking for you.”

“Were you? For me specifically? Or would you have said that any of the birds in the other room?”

“You’re funny,” he said, swinging his arm around her shoulder and guiding her outside. “I know you said I wasn’t your type, but I think we can make for great friends. You, the cynical dry one. Me, the outgoing funny one.”

Cass huffed, “I’m _not_ cynical.”

“The speech about reality television could have fooled me,” he said, as he steered them to a couple of lounge chairs. 

“I don’t have a job. I’m not an influencer. It was the realest thing I could have said in the moment.”

“Bit of advice, darling,” he said, elongating the word darling, “they don’t want real. They want to fall in love with you and root for your story.”

“Who is they?”

Bobby pointed to different parts of the villa, “They, the people on the outside of these walls. Everyone.”

Cass raised her eyebrows, “Is that what you are doing? Mooning around for that girl Catherine? Are you trying to get the audience to root for that?”

“Ah,” he said, placing his hands over his heart and falling over on his lounge chair. “My heart pines for the girl, yes. That is not fake. I thought we were about to have something but who can compete with a looker like Lucas?”

“I can't tell if whatever you are saying is real or fake,” she said poking his leg with her foot. 

Bobby closed his eyes, his face towards the sun. “It’s all real and at the same time, it’s all fake.”

“Are you okay? Did they give you mushrooms before we got here?” 

He sat up, facing her, “I’m giving you some advice, because I do think we can be great friends. It is all real, what happens in here is real. The feelings you develop quickly are real, the heartache and the longing is real. But this environment adds to whatever you are feeling and you have to remember that. Catherine- yes, I like her. I think I would like her if I met her anywhere. Do I like her more that I spend every waking hour with her and sometimes the non-waking ones too when we were paired up? You just have to remember that.”

“Why are you telling me this?” 

“Because I feel like you are guarding yourself from this process, from the experience. You have to open yourself up to it but remember who you are,” he shrugged. “You’ll see what I mean, I promise you.”

“Ay, you two!” Gary shouted at them from across the lawn. “We’re grilling the girls, come join!”

Bobby jumped to his feet and put his hand out to help Cassandra up. “Game face on,” he said before jogging over to the group.

Cassandra walked slowly, still trying to tug her bathing suit up. She was going to be glad when tomorrow she could wear something else. When she got to the rest of them, they were all sitting in a circle. Lucas moved on the sofa and patted the seat next to her to let her sit. She sat quickly, thanking Lucas quietly as Gary spoke again.

“It’s nice to have some fresh faces to look at,” he joked, “but us boys wanted to get to know you girls a little bit better. Maybe we can go around and you all say who you are interested in.”

“Cheeky,” Emily said, and offered to start. “I would say that I’m 100% all in on this guy right here,” she said, pressing her shoulder in to Jakub and putting her hand on his thigh. Cassandra noted that her hand did not even come close to covering the surface area of Jakub’s thigh. “But you all are fit, as well.”

“Glad we are a consolation prize, lads,” Bobby chirped.

Siobhan, who was seated on the other side of Jakub, shyly cleared her throat. “I would say that Jakub as well.” Cassandra leaned forward to catch Emily’s face who turned to glare at the poor Irish girl. “And maybe,” Siobhan said, staring straight ahead, “Gary as well.”

“Did you hear that, guys? I got a maybe,” Gary said, puffing out his chest. 

“Rahim,” Shannon said, moving her sunglasses down her nose. Rahim’s face reddened and Shannon smiled at him. 

Cass was next. “I think none of you have done much yet to interest me,” she said honestly and watched as Bobby shook his head. “However, I’m open to any of you challenging that and am looking forward to getting to know all of you.” Bobby’s head shake turned into the slightest of nods and he gave her a small thumbs up.

Lucas turned to Cass, leaning into her and lowering his voice, “You intrigue me.”

“Me? Intriguing” she whispered back.

“I can’t figure out why you are on this show. Everything you say-“

“Excuse me,” Blake cleared her throat. “Stop whispering, it's my turn.”

Cass pulled her head back from Lucas, her face flushing from being called out.

“As I was saying, I am interested in Noah and Lucas. I think both of you are the complete package. Plus, I think you would look great in my Instagram photographs.” 

Cass craned her neck to look at Noah who was sitting next to Blake and Rahim. He stared down at his hands like he hadn’t heard what she said but Cass could see his lips pulling into a small smile. 

Sophie was next, and she looked around quickly. “I would say Bobby or Rahim- and I would also put my hat in the ring with Jakub.”

“Jakub’s angels,” Jakub said, smiling wide and reaching behind Siobhan to hit Lucas on the arm. “Like Charlie’s angels, but I’m Charlie.”

“Yeah, mate, I get it,” Lucas said, pressing into Cass to avoid another hit from Jakub. 

“I think it’s unfair you all get to quiz us about who we are interested in and not reveal something of yourselves,” Cass said, looking around the circle. “Who are you all currently with and how is it going?”

“Well, someone decided to really muck things up for the rest of us,” Noah said, speaking first. 

“The game is called Love Island,” Jakub said, “and I’m not going to not go for who I think is the best in the house.”

“He picked Hope,” Lucas said, leaning over to clear it up for Cass. “Noah and Hope-“

“Lucas, mate, stop whispering in the girl’s ear,” Noah grumbled, his eyes narrowing. “You can tell the whole group whatever you want to say.”

“What i was saying, Noah, was that you have been acting a little put out ever since you and Hope called things off when we all heard you snogging Priya last night after the recouping ceremony. I like Catherine and I’m happy to be in a couple with her, but I told you I was going to pick Priya last night and you picked her anyways.”

“What did you want me to do?” Noah asked, standing up. “He picked Hope.”

“Pick anyone besides the one person I told you I wanted to pick?” Lucas stood up, meeting Noah in the middle of the circle. "You had the entire choice of girls standing there. And if you want to call anyone out for whispering in someone’s ear, do you want to talk about the time that you whispered in Priya’s that you thought you two would make for a better couple?”

“Alright, alright,” Gary said, springing to his feet and stepping in between the two guys. “Ladies, why don’t you all get ready for the night- it looks like it might be getting slightly darker? We will clear the air here and be ready to show you a great first night in the Villa. Right lads?"

The rest of the boys looked around, the anger still visible on Lucas and Noah's faces, and all nodded. "Yes, a great time," they all echoed. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Wow, ladies, you clean up nicely,” Bobby said, wolf whistling as the girls came out of the villa and into the backyard. They had spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready and some of them had been pulled into the beach hut for their interviews. Cassandra was still waiting for her turn but wasn’t exactly sure of what she was going to say when faced with the producers questions. “Siobhan, do a twirl for us.”

Cassandra looked over at the shyest one of the bunch, the quiet Irish girl, who complied with Bobby’s request and twirled for the guys. Her long, colorful skirt flew around her and as she stopped spinning, Cass watched Siobhan’s eyes dart for Jakub. Emily must have seen it too as she crossed the lawn in her tight, black jumpsuit and took Jakub’s hand. “Let’s chat, darling,” she said, pulling him away from the group. 

“Territorial,” Shannon said, appearing next to Cass. “She’s playing it all wrong.”

“And how should you play it?” Blake asked, rolling her eyes but staying to listen to the answer.

“It has to be slow, it makes it seem more natural. Build some kind of relationship before you go in for the kill. I will be letting Rahim make the first move, and you guys watch- I will bet you 100 pounds that he does in the next ten minutes.” Shannon winked at them before walking off to the kitchen. 

Blake rolled her eyes again, “I’ll bet the 100 pounds that she gets nowhere near staying. Oh,” she said, spotting her target, “Noah, just the librarian I was looking for.” She looped her arm into his and guided him to the lounge chairs leaving Cass, Sophie and Siobhan standing there. 

“Do you think we’re playing it wrong? They seem so confident in their game plans,” Sophie said, brushing her hair away from her face. “Should I go grab a guy?” 

“Go grab Rahim,” Siobhan said, laughing. “Make Shannon wait a bit.”

“I’m not playing it at all,” Cass said. “I don’t think you can force things, and I think it will all come back to bite them. See what comes naturally, just be yourself.”

“Ah,” Bobby said, sauntering over to them with Gary and Lucas in tow. “Age old wisdom, be yourself. Is someone having trouble following it?”

Cass stepped aside so the boys could join their circle, "See, if you are patient- they'll come to us."

“Hello ladies, I wanted to apologize for earlier,” Lucas said, his shoulders sagging. “I acted out of turn and allowed myself to stoop down to a level that I’m not proud of.”

Gary patted him on the back, “Happens to the best of us, mate. You guys had to get some things off your chest and you did. And now we are here, and happy, and ready to show these birds a good time. It was a bit of a tizzy the last recouping. No one is really with who they want to be. Although, poor Chelsea thinks we’re in love.”

“What did you send her?” Bobby asked, turning to the crane operator. 

“Oy, I just found things around the house quickly and packed it up. There was a cork from a champagne bottle just lying around and I thought, this seems like something Chelsea would like. I bet she’s picturing a room she could decorate with a wall made up of corks from champagne bottles she popped in the villa.”

“Hard to do when they give us one glass a night,” Lucas said. “I packed Catherine a shirt, just from my stuff. I wish I could have attached a note saying give this to Priya.” 

Bobby glared at him, “You could have picked Marisol.”

“I thought we got over this this afternoon,” Gary groaned, covering his face with his hand. “We are all with someone we didn’t want to be with, mate. Lucas is sorry. Noah is sorry. Jakub is Jakub. And now we are with a villa filled with beautiful women, let’s not dwell.”

Bobby pouted for a moment before they were interrupted by Cass’s phone vibrating. “Oh, I need to go to the beach hut for my interview.” 

“I’ll show you where it is,” Lucas said, stepping forward. Bobby’s eyebrows raised and he slyly bumped his shoulder against Gary’s. “I mean, it’s not far but maybe we could chat a little bit.”

Cass took his arm, “After you got yelled at for whispering in my ear, it would be my honor to follow my noble prince to the beach hut.”

Lucas steered her away from the small group and then started to walk slower. “See, that’s what I’m talking about when I said you were intriguing." 

Cass looked at him, “What? Calling you a noble prince?”

“No, this change. You came off… well a bit frigid at the start but you continue to surprise me.”

Cass thought for a moment before answering, “I think it’s not easy to be your true self when you are paraded out in front of six guys and need to turn one of their heads to continue on a television show. It’s a lot of pressure. I’m not sure that’s me.”

“I think you could turn any of our heads in here,” Lucas said. “But who does the head belong to that you want to turn?”

Cass stopped outside the beach hut, letting go of his arm. “I was being honest before, I don’t know any of you. I’m not going to be a person who falls for a guy on my television screen. I’m trying to be open about it all, but I’m not going to sell myself out for an opportunity to have 15 more days in the villa.” 

Lucas eyes narrowed at her, “You see, I thought I would get the smallest bit of clarity by getting you alone and now I’m more confused than ever about your intentions. I think I like it, though, I like to be surprised.”

* * *

“And how is your first day in the villa, Cassandra?” 

Cass adjusted her seating position on the rounded wicker chair, trying to get a reflection off the camera of whether it was flattering or not. She was sitting with her feet under her bum and leaned back in the chair, trying to stretch her little black dress so it would cover a little bit more of her leg than it was intended for. it didn’t look indecent when she was standing, short- yes, but not indecent. However, now that she was sitting, she could just see what the people at home were prepared to say about her. 

“It’s going.”

“Cassandra, you have to answer in full answers. We edit out the questions. Start with something like my first day in the villa and then say your answer.”

The voice on the other side of the wall was cold and clearly annoyed by her attitude. They had already been in the interview for five minutes and Cass was having a difficult time getting used to talking to a wall with a camera.

“My first day in the villa has been…” she paused, looking up as though to read her own thoughts. “My first day in the villa has been difficult, if I am being honest. I thought it would be a laugh to come here. All the guys are lookers, the girls are funny- but it’s a difficult position coming in as one of the girls in Casa Amor. Your goal is to really break up one of these couples, but I don’t want to have to hurt someone to stay here.”

“Thank you, Cassandra,” the voice sounded relieved. “And who are you liking so far?”

“Oh, Bobby is just so lovely. When I watched from home I did not think that we would get on. He’s loud and out there but he is such a sincere boy, I really have enjoyed getting to talk to him.”

“Are you thinking of grafting on him?”

Cassandra laughed, a true hearty laugh. “Oh no. Bobby is a gem and whoever he ends up with, and I think he wants it to be Catherine, is lucky but he’s not my type. Not on paper or in real life. He’s just not doing it for me. God, I wish he would. He’d be a lovely boyfriend.”

“Who would you want to have their head turned for you then?”

“Look, I think all the boys are nice. I think they all are really trying to find someone. Noah is 100% my type on paper, if I'm being completely honest. If he wasn’t such a complete prick, I would think about at least trying it on him. If I get pie on my face, at least it was a hot boy pieing me off. But his personality, or what he’s shown of it, is so off putting. How does Hope put up with him? And Lucas, that boy oozes charm. It seeps out of his pores, if he has any- I was up close and personal with him on the walk over and I need to get his skin care routine. He is at least someone I am interested in seeing where it goes.”

“Thank you, Cassandra. Can you please come prepared to bring the last five minute energy to your next session?”

Cassandra nodded, “I will try, oh mysterious voice.”

Cassandra untangled her legs from under her and stood, slightly wobbling from her heels that were higher than she was used to and left the beach hut only to run straight in to the librarian. Cass felt herself lose her balance, tried to grab at Noah’s arm before it happened, but was too late and found herself on her bum staring up at Noah. 

“Hi,” he smirked, putting his hand out to help her out. “You alright?” 

Cassandra tried to smile but could feel hot tears forming. She pulled off her shoes, ignoring Noah’s hand and helped herself up. “Quite,” she said, giving him a wide berth as she walked around him in her bare feet and crossed the backyard to see what the rest of the islanders were up to. 

* * *

“Okay, girls, what are our thoughts?” Emily said, doing a spin so she could show off her lingerie that she was wearing to bed with Jakub. Out of the girls, only Emily and Shannon had asked or been asked to share a bed. Cassandra was sharing with Siobhan and Blake reluctantly agreed to share with Sophie while grumbling that Lucas or Noah could still ask her. 

Cassandra watched Siobhan roll her eyes as she left the getting ready area clad in her cute matching pj set (which Cass had to remind herself to ask Siobhan where she got it). Cass quickly twisted her hair into a bun and grabbed a sweatshirt from her stuff to put over her tank top and pajama shorts. “You look great, Emily,” she said, smiling as she walked by. “I’m sure Jakub will love it.”

An hour later, the lights were off and everyone was at least pretending to be sleeping while Emily showed Jakub what he would be missing if he didn’t bring her back in the villa- Cass had heard her say those exact words as she was situated right next to the love bird’s bed. Cass stared at the ceiling, trying to will herself to sleep but knew it was hopeless. She had struggled with bouts of insomnia since she was in her late teen years and being in a new location with new… sounds, she knew that sleep wouldn’t come for awhile.

As quietly as she could, Cass tried to maneuver out from the bed without waking Siobhan who had smartly packed what it looked to be earplugs. Quietly tip toeing outside of the room (and trying her best to not look at Emily and Jakub’s shaking bed), Cass tried to adjust to the darkness of the villa. She felt around for the guard rail and then quietly climbed the stairs to the balcony, where if she was going to be awake- at least she would get a good view of the stars. 

She was surprised to see that there seemed to be a glow from the outdoors as she grabbed the handle of the door to pull open. She was even more surprised, and regrettably heard herself gasp, when a voice broke the silence of the night.

“Hey.” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't intend to make every villa day four chapters long - but that is just how this day panned out.

“Oh,” Cass said, jumping at the voice. “Sorry, I didn’t realize that, uh, anyone was still up.” She stayed in the doorway, trying to figure out her best exit plan. It seemed unreasonable that she had just come up here, when she was supposed to be sleeping, to take in the view quickly and then leave but she couldn’t think of a better thing to say to leave the grumpy librarian alone. “I was just, uh, you know- seeing what the sights were like, um, up here. But now I’ve seen them so I can, uh, go… now.” Cass was glad that it was dark so Noah couldn’t see how red she must have been. 

She started to walk back into the villa, reaching for the handle of the door when he spoke again. “No, it’s okay. You can come out.” 

Cass paused, her hand clutching the sliding door ready to close it in the face of this awkwardness but she didn’t have a better plan than going on to the balcony. She really, really didn’t want to listen to Emily and Jakub for however long they planned on going at it for. “Oh,’ she said, taking a deep breath and crossing the barrier to the outside. “Okay, then.” She pulled the door shut behind her and took a seat on the bench, as far away from Noah as possible. “Sorry for interrupting,” she said, pulling her knees up to her chest and stretching her sweatshirt out to cover them. 

“You’re not,” he said, looking at her quickly and then back up to the sky. 

She followed his eye line to the night sky, trying to find a constellation she recognized. Cass tapped her fingers on the bench, counting out the seconds of silence that they sat in. It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable in silence, it was that she was uncomfortable sitting in the dark with someone who by all accounts kept showing that he had no interest in getting to know her. 

Cassandra pulled up her hood on her sweatshirt and turned her head to look at him. “Do I offend you?”

The glow of the string lights on the balcony made it hard to make out his face, but she could see that his expression changed and he brought his eyes down from the sky and turned his head to face her. “What?” 

“It just seems,” she continued, pulling the strings on her hoodie to distract herself from the awkwardness, “that I’ve done something to you that you have decided you don’t like me and I’m not really quite sure what I’ve done in the 8 hours I’ve been in the villa that could cause it.”

Noah ran a hand over his head, “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

Cass scoffed, “You are sorry that I feel that way? No denial? Are you a robot? At least lie and say that I am imagining it.” 

“I don’t not like you,” he said, his words coming out painfully slow as though he was contemplating the merit of each word he said.

“Very reassuring.” Cass blinked quickly, trying to fight the hot tears of anger that she was feeling. He made her feel small, which was frustrating in itself but when added to the fact she already felt out of place in the villa just compounded her anxious thoughts.

Noah leaned forward, his elbows pressing on to his knees, “I’ve upset you.” 

Cass angrily brushed away a tear that dared to escape from her eye, “It’s just my reaction to stress. It’s not you, don’t flatter yourself.” Cass pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, trying to forcefully stop any more tears from coming out. “It’s just… you are such an arse.”

“Me?” he said, his voice carrying his surprise.

“Yes,” she said, removing her hands and looking at him. “You are the only one in this entire villa who has made me feel unwelcome, and for some reason this inability to be a gracious host seems to only be aimed at me. You are plenty fine with cozying up to Blake when she calls for you, or laughing at something Emily said during the speed dating rounds. I get a hello, and then complete silence. It’s rude. Do you know how difficult it is to come in here knowing that your goal is to either turn a guy’s head and be perceived as a villain by everyone watching or go home after three days? It’s daunting. Add on that one of the guys that you are supposed to be trying to woo is making a real mug out of you.”

Noah took a deep breath and waited a moment to see if she would continue. “I’m sorry. I didn’t,” he stopped talking and leaned back. “I didn’t realize that was how you were perceiving me. It’s not an excuse, but the last couple of days have completely turned my head around.”

“So you think you can just be a jerk because you’ve had a bad couple of days?”

Noah tilted his head to the side, “You just say whatever is on your mind, don’t you?” 

“There’s no point in not at this point. I’ve already called you an asshole, I don’t think I can sink our relationship any lower.”

“Ah,” he laughed, just slightly, but the sound of it made Cass’s chest tighten. “I think I might have sunk the boat, actually. It seems like you just went down with it. It’s really not an excuse, again, but I didn’t deal with the last couple of days well. Add on the fact that I took you as making fun of the show and us on it by being so flippant about it in your introduction.” 

“I’m _on_ the show.”

She saw a half smile form on his lips, “Are you? They might still edit you out, pretend there were only five Casa girls.” They both laughed and the tensions between them seemed to ease slightly. “I was looking to apologize to you earlier. Bobby told me I was being a bit of a dick. When I ran into you in the beach hut, I wanted to then but you ran off. I wanted to get ahead of it, but I think we can both agree that I did not, in fact, get ahead of it.” 

“Bobby had to tell you?”

“Well, I asked and he confirmed. I really am sorry, Cass, that I upset you. It was not my intention to make your time in here difficult.”

Cass nodded, “I accept your apology, although I can hardly believe that it was just because of one comment about doing reality television. “

Noah shrugged, “You caught me on a bad day.” 

Cass stretched out her legs from under her sweatshirt, “Why are you still up, anyways?” 

“Well,” he said, “I can’t stop thinking about Hope.”

“How sweet,” Cass said, hoping that the darkness of the night would hide her eye roll. 

Noah grinned, “I saw that. It’s not like that, not really. I regret a lot of the things that happened in the last couple of days. I don’t want to hurt her, she’s a great girl, and telling Priya that I thought we might be a better couple- that hurt her. I can’t get that out of my mind. I can’t get her face when Priya said it to her out of my mind.”

“So, Hope is haunting you?” 

“I guess you could say that. What about you? What brings you up to the balcony at this late hour? There are no clocks here but I can only guess it is a late hour.”

“You see,” Cass said, making eye contact with him, “there was this boy on television who I thought was really cute who ended up being really ornery and mean to me. It made it really hard for me to sleep knowing that he was in the same room. Silly me, he was up on the balcony the entire time.”

Noah hung his head down, his chin hitting his chest. 

“Oh my god,” Cass said, as she tried to reach over to tap his leg but realized the distance between them was too great. “You believed that? Are you that egotistical?”

“Well, why would you lie about it?”

“I didn’t lie, it’s called a joke.” She laughed. “God, no, I wouldn’t lose sleep over you, love. I just battle insomnia sometimes. It happens to be the worst when I’m in a new place, my brain can’t seem to settle. Add in Jakub and Emily going at it like rabbits- and here I am. It’s a curse.” 

“Non-sleeping beauty.”

“What?”

“Like the Disney film? It’s a joke.”

“No, I get that it’s a joke. I just didn’t realize that you could joke,” she said.

Noah’s eyebrows raised, “Ouch.” He looked out into the distance, “I am sorry to say that I do not battle insomnia and I think the haunting of Hope might be dying down for the night and I am getting quite tired.” He yawned, and Cass couldn’t decide if it was put on or if it was just a perfectly timed yawn. He stood, stretching his arms up, “I’m glad we have gotten this over with on night one. Maybe day two can be a fresh start.”

“Only if we get a redo speed date,” she joked, pulling her knees back up and resting her head on them. 

“I am sure Bobby, master of ceremonies, would love to set that up for us,” he said. He started to walk to the door and as he passed by her, his fingers lightly brushed the top of her shoulder. Cass couldn’t tell from the angle that she was sitting if the touch was happenstance. “Good night, Cass,” he said, pulling the door open. “I hope your insomnia eases up at some point. The villa beds are surprisingly comfortable, if not a little small. I’m going to have to go elbow Bobby a couple of times to give me some space. He’s been known to sleep like a starfish.”


	5. Chapter 5

Cass was lounging on one of the pool chairs when the rest of the villa started to rise the next morning. She had crawled into her shared bed with Siobhan when she could start to see the sun rise and was able to eke out a couple of hours of sleep before she woke. She had already had a coffee and an apple before the rest of the house woke.

“Late to bed, early to rise,” Bobby said, jogging over to her. “I like your style, Cass.” She pulled her feet up closer towards her as he sat on the end of her chair. “You must be dead tired though.”

“Did you keep on an eye on my bed, Bobby?”

“Ah, no, ran into Noah as he was coming downstairs as I needed to use the toilet and he said you were upstairs. Thought about keeping you some company, but I need my beauty sleep. I don’t wake up looking this naturally good if I only get a couple of hours.”

She squinted at him and teased, “You are telling me that this is how you want to look? I thought this was your bed head.”

“Lass got jokes,” he said, patting her knee as he stood up. “I’m going to go grab a cuppa, do you need anything?” 

“No, but thank you,” she said. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting the morning sun warm her body before it got too hot. She heard footsteps approaching a couple of minutes later and assumed it was Bobby back with his tea. “I know I said no, but I really hope you brought me a cuppa anyways.”

“You can have mine,” Noah’s voice replied.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking up at his statuesque body and noticing his unshaven face, “Ah, sorry, thought you were Bobby.”

“I figured,” he said, sitting down on the chair next to hers. “I have some unfortunate news.”

“Did they cut Casa Amor short? Should I start packing?”

“Not sure if you would find that unfortunate or not.” He ran his hand over one side of his face and grimaced, “They called me to the beach hut as soon as I woke up this morning. They were proper mad that we didn’t have our mic packs on last night. I think the producers who are supposed to watch the night cameras fell asleep on the job. Sorry to say, we have to restage our truce.”

“Television,” she scoffed, sliding her legs over and touching the ground with her feet. “When? Do we have a script?”

“No, nothing that rehearsed. They brought me in, asked what we talked about and said something as important as us getting along suddenly was going to have to be on camera or else the audience would get confused and said we could just do it here.”

Cass rolled her eyes, “Do they call action? Do we just go?” 

“I think we just go,” Noah said, his face screwed up in thought. “I guess I could come and walk back.” 

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” she said. “This is great fun.”

“Welcome to Love Island,” he said, standing up and walking back to the kitchen before walking towards her again. 

Cass positioned herself back on the lounger and tried to not overthink the fact that she was going to have to act on a reality television series. 

Noah approached her, sitting down, “Hey.”

“Hi,” she said, her lips betraying the seriousness of the conversation they were supposed to have by tugging upwards into a smirk. “Is that an apology cuppa?” she said, reaching over for his mug. 

Noah seemed slightly shaken by the change of tone, but rolled with it. “Yes, I thought I would bring over something for you and say sorry. The Scottish lad confirmed it for me last night that I was being a bit of an asshole. I took out the villa drama on you and I apologize.”

“Apology accepted,” she said, taking a sip of the tea and hoping the caffeine would serve her well throughout the day. “I will allow you the pleasure of being my friend now that you’ve apologized.”

Noah tried to hide his laugh by covering his mouth with his hand. “Well, thank you. I will… see you around?”

“It’s a small villa so I’m sure you will,” Cass said, looking around at the cameras. “Do you think that’s enough?”

“If it’s not, they’ll just yell at me in the beach hut again. I think they’re giving you the benefit of it being your first day for not knowing that we are always supposed to be mic’d for important conversations.”

Cass shrugged, “I didn’t know that when I was going to peacefully look at stars and try to will myself to be tired enough to sleep that an ‘important conversation’ was going to happen. You ruined my peace and quiet.”

Bobby came back over, holding two mugs in his hand. “Saw she stole yours, Noah, so I brought you another one. Have you two made up correctly?” his head moved to point to the cameras.

Cass nodded, “Yes, Noah was just about to list all of his wrong doings in the form of a song. You are just in time.” She leaned over and patted the end of her lounge chair, “Take a seat, Bobby.”

“I certainly was not going to sing.”

“But he was going to list his wrong doings,” Bobby teased, sitting down to join the conversation. “He’s not so bad when you get to know him,” he turned to Cass. “He’s a little prickly at first. Quiet and all, but ask him about his snake and he will talk your ear off.” He winked and then turned to Noah, “She’s not so bad when you get to know her.” He reached over and patted Noah’s knee. “She’s got a mouth on her and refuses to even white lie it seems, but she seems decent enough.”

“Your snake?”

Noah glared at Bobby, “I don’t have a snake.”

“He’s being modest,” Bobby said, howling at his own joke.

“Jesus Christ, Bobby,” Noah said, hanging his head. “We played two truths and a lie and I lied about having a snake. I do want one, but it is hard to find a snake sitter.”

Bobby laughed again, “Do you hear yourself, mate? A snake sitter?”

“A fucking snake babysitter. Someone to watch the snake.” 

Bobby elbowed Cass and wiggled his eyebrows, “He’s looking for the perfect snake sitter.”

Cass stood, holding her mug in both her hands. “I’m going to leave you two animals to talk about your snakes and sitting preferences here and I’m going to go make my face look television ready. This,” she said, motioning to the two of them, “was too much.” She started to walk away, pausing and looking back, “Thank you, again, for the apology Noah. I’ll be waiting for the full list of wrong doings.”

She walked into the kitchen where Siobhan and Sophie were whispering while they were making smoothies. “Did you hear them? On the first night? That’s bold.”

Siobhan turned the blender on so Cass couldn’t hear her response but she assumed they were talking about the extracurricular activities of Emily and Jakub. “You girls good?” she said, once the sound of the blender cut out.

“We were just talking about the boldness of some girls,” Siobhan said, turning to Cass as she poured the brown looking smoothie into a glass. Cass had never seen something so unappetizing come out of a blender before. “My parents would kill me if they saw me shag a boy on the first day after meeting them. It’s like… can’t you wait until you know more than just his name?”

Cass tutted, “Seriously? She can do whatever she wants, she’s a grown woman.”

“She can, but people are going to talk,” Sophie said, taking a sip of her smoothie and barely hiding a wince. “Really good, Siobhan.”

“The talk doesn’t have to come from inside the house,” Cass replied, walking closer and putting her hand on the counter. “We are already subjecting ourselves to hate comments from all the people on the internet who think because we appear in skimpy bathing suits on television that gives them a right to talk about us. We don’t have to join in on those conversations.” She watched as Sophie put her cup of sludge down and without thinking, Cass dragged her hand along the counter and hit the cup, sending the brown smoothie on the floor. “Oh my God, Sophie, I am so sorry,” she said, dramatically bringing her hand to her mouth. 

Lucas walked in to the kitchen as Sophie reached for a towel to clean herself up. “Cass, do you mind if I steal you for a second for a quick chat?”

Cass looked at the mess that she had made, noting that she had definitely done more mature things in her lifetime but decided that the punishment of now having to clean up the smoothie fit the crime of talking about one of the girls behind their backs. “I’m so sorry, Sophie, I would love to help clean- but,” she said, motioning towards Lucas. 

Sophie glared at her but Cass walked away anyways, trying to look at least somewhat apologetic. “Again, my knight in shining armor,” she said walking from the kitchen to the fire pit with Lucas.

“I heard what happened,” he said, smiling down at her. “Nice of you to stick up for Emily. Although, if it happens tonight, I will be asking them to at least keep it down.”

“A valuable piece of criticism,” Cass said, sitting down. “I wouldn’t spill a smoothie on you for that.”

“So you did do it on purpose,” he said, his smile reaching his eyes. “I thought so, but wasn’t a hundred percent positive.” 

“And here you are chatting with me anyways.”

“I like a bit of danger. A little smoothie being thrown around seems like a decent price to pay to chat up a pretty girl.”

Cass jokingly batted her eyelashes, “So you think I’m pretty?” 

“I do,” he said. He looked around, checking to see if anyone was approaching before dropping his voice, “Look, Cass, I haven’t had much luck in the villa. I thought Priya and I could give it a go- but haven’t had any deep conversations with her to accurately assess if that would work or not. I think you are gorgeous and I want to continue to get to know you, but I wanted to see what you were thinking.”

Cass was taken aback by his forwardness, but she supposed that was how you succeeded on the show. “That is really kind, Lucas. I think you are one of the best looking lads I’ve ever seen in person and you seem to be much more than just a posh boy. I do think there is a spark between us, but I don’t want you to put all your eggs in my basket on the second day.”

Lucas looked off to the side, “So it’s a no?”

“No, it’s not a no,” Cass replied. “I want to get to know you, but I don’t want to prevent you from getting to know the other girls or feel like if I say I’m interested that you have to be committed to me.”

Lucas laughed, “You are playing this game so wrong. You are supposed to say the exact opposite of what you just said. Are you even trying to stay in the villa?” 

“I’m just trying to be true to myself.”

“And that is why I like you.” Lucas shook his head although it seemed to be at himself more than at her. “You are taking this at a real world pace when all the other girls are seemingly just trying to attach their wagon to any boy who will keep them in here. They’re not very subtle with it either.”

“Maybe,” she said, “I have the same goal but just using reverse psychology on you lot.”

“Oh,” Lucas said, pressing his temples, “don’t put that idea in my head, love. Let me pretend you are pure and trying to form a genuine connection before throwing yourself at one of us.”

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” she teased before hearing someone shout across the villa.

“I’ve got a text!”


	6. Chapter 6

Bobby patted the seat next to him, pushing over to make room in between him and Noah. Lucas scowled at the situation and reluctantly sat next to Blake. “Sorry to steal you from him but if it’s a partner thing, I want a good one.”

“That’s a lot of pressure on me,” Cass said, sitting down. It was a tight squeeze and she felt Noah try and push a little over for her and heard Gary on his other side grumble. “It’s alright, I can squeeze.” She pressed her legs together and tried to take up the least amount of space.

“Sorry, love,” Noah said, glaring at Gary. “He won’t push over.”

“I got here first, I should get elbow room.”

Blake stood up, “The text says, ‘Islanders, prepare for the competition to heat up as you go head to head with the other Villa in a series of mini-challenges. The winning Villa will be treated to a cocktail party this evening. #turninguptheheat #allvillanofiller #villavsvilla’.” 

“We have to win,” Gary proclaimed. “Imagine the girls faces when they get the text that we won. Lottie would be fuming.” He looked pleased at the thought. “Would serve her right if she was chatting to any Casa boy.” 

“Does anyone have anything they are really fast at?” Bobby asked the group. “Any special talents we should know about?” 

Emily raised her hand, “I can tie a cherry stem in my mouth.”

Jakub gawked at her, “Can you now?”

She nodded, “Pretty quickly, too. I used to practice when it was slow at work.”

“I’m good with cards,” Shannon said. “And getting this guy to say my name,” she hit her shoulder against Ibrahim who turned a deep scarlet. 

Bobby’s eyebrows shot up, “Did you guys do bits, too, mate? We only heard Jakub and one of his angels.”

Ibrahim shook his head, “I think she was joking.” 

“We will see about that,” Shannon challenged.

Jakub’s phone dinged, “I’ve got a text. It says that the shortest girl must kiss the tallest boy.” Jakub stood, “Well, we all know that I’m the tallest. Girls, why don’t you all kiss me and then we will be sure to win.” 

“That’s not how it’s played, mate,” Lucas said as Siobhan hopped up from where she was sitting. 

“I think I’m the shortest,” she said, her eyes darting over to where Emily stood. Emily smirked and motioned for them to get on with it. Siobhan and Jakub met in the middle of the circle and Jakub leaned down to kiss her. Cass watched in surprise as Siobhan’s hands ran down the length of Jakub’s back as they continued to go from a friendly peck to a make out session.

Bobby whistled. Noah leaned back, his eyes wide. Cass looked at Emily, who’s face was not giving anything away but she could see her hands turn into fists by her side. 

Jakub and Siobhan peeled away from each other and Jakub gave a small bow to the group. “We were very thorough in what kind of kiss they were asking for,” he said, bouncing back to his seat to Emily.

Emily turned her head away from him as he motioned for her to give a high five. Her phone buzzed at the same time and she looked down. “I have the next one. It says, the first Islanders to have an underwater kiss! Go!” She dropped her phone quickly and grabbed Jakub’s hand. 

Jakub looked like he couldn’t believe his luck as he picked up Emily into his arms and launched them both into the pool. A second later they both came up for air. He looked pleased. “Jakub’s Angels!” he said, punching his fist into the air as they climbed out of the pool. He shook off like a wet dog and sat back down. “Any one else want a go today, ladies?”

“You are something else,” Lucas said, catching Cass’s eye across the circle. 

“Noah, mate,” Bobby said, leaning over Cass. “Are you hoping for a specific challenge? Like first to cry over missing their girl in the other villa?”

“Lay off,” Noah said, reaching out and hitting Bobby’s arm playfully. “I’m hoping for no challenge. If it continues like this, Jakub will win the entire thing for us.”

“What about you, Cass? Anyone you want to get any inside scoop on their kissing techniques? Lucas, perhaps?”

Cass felt Noah’s body tighten next to her as she eyed Lucas across the circle. “I’ll do anything for the win.”

“That’s my girl,” Bobby said, as Ibrahim’s phone goes off. 

“Ah,” Ibrahim said, his cheeks again darkening. “It says the oldest girl has to do five different sex positions with the youngest boy.” He stood and mumbled, “I’m the youngest.”

“I could shave a couple years off my age,” Jakub said, puffing up his chest. “Sit down, let me take it.” Jakub stood before Emily pulled him back down, her face showing her annoyance. “It was a joke,” he muttered, but he looked at Ibrahim with envy as Ibrahim stood in the middle waiting for someone to join him.

Cass looked around, “Well, who’s the youngest?” 

“It’s not me,” Emily started. “I’m 20.”

“I’m 24,” Shannon shrugged. “I can’t be the oldest.”

“Well, you take me out,” Cass said with some relief. “I’m 21.” 

“Me too,” Sophie said, from her spot on a bean bag chair. “And Siobhan.”

“It is you, Shannon,” Blake said, looking at her. “I’m 22.”

“Quick!” Gary shouted as Shannon stood up. “Show him what you’re working with!”

Shannon grabbed Ibrahim’s hands and put them on her hips, her back to his torso and leaned over.

“One!” Gary said, counting them. 

She turned back around and looped her arms around his neck and jumped up and wrapped her legs around him.

“Two,” Gary counted again, Bobby joining him in chant. 

Shannon thought for a second before dropping to her knees.

“A good one,” Gary said, elbowing Noah hard so that he bumped into Cass. Cass was covering her eyes to escape from the second hand embarrassment she was getting from the dare. “Three! Two more.”

“I think they can count to five, mate,” Noah grumbled.

Shannon pulled Ibrahim down to the ground and sat with her back to his face.

“Reverse, reverse!” Gary laughed. “Four!” 

“Gary,” Bobby challenged, “why don’t you get up there and join them for the fifth.” Cass peaked through her fingers to watch Gary nod, and walk up to them. “Quck, Noah, spread out.”

Noah moved over, giving the three of them a little bit more room, as Shannon quickly pulled Gary into the fifth and final sex position.

The circle cheered for them all and Ibrahim bit his lip as he led Shannon back to their seat. Noah leaned into Cass, “Are you shy about all this stuff?” 

Cass lowered her hand, confused about the question. “Oh,” she laughed, realizing he must have meant because she had covered her eyes, “no. The acts didn’t bother me, I just got an overwhelming sense of secondhand embarrassment watching them fumble around.”

“Mmm,” Noah hummed as he pulled back. “Good to know.”

What, she thought, was that supposed to mean? Cass glanced over at him but his face gave nothing away. 

“Has anyone ever actually had a threesome in this group?” Shannon asked, her hand now holding Ibrahim’s.

Jakub’s hand shot up. “Talk about a good time.”

Gary also nodded, “Mine wasn’t so great. Better in the movies. It’s a lot of work having two people to focus on. I’m more of a lay back and let the girl be on top kind of guy.”

Siobhan and Sophie both slowly raised their hands as well before Cass’s phone went off to spare them of telling the details.

“Bobby, this one is for you,” she said, clearing her throat. “You have to give a girl a lap dance.”

Bobby sprung up from his seat. “Just one girl? Seems unfair to the rest of you. Cass, as you are sitting right there, mind being the lucky lady?”

“Go ahead,” she said, motioning in front of her and leaning back. 

“Are you going to cover your eyes for this one?” Noah teased.

Cass shook her head, “I don’t think Bobby is the least bit embarrassed.” She watched as Bobby backed up to the middle of the group before shimmying over to her, his shoulders leaned forward and giving his chest a shake. “Go, Bobby!” she clapped.

“People pay good money to see this,” Bobby joked, sitting lightly on her lap as he moved his lower half to a beat only he could hear. He leaned over, touching the ground before slowly rising from her lap. He motioned Noah to move over a little, placing a foot where Noah had been seated and thrusting his pelvis in the direction of her face before turning around and shaking his ass. 

Cass playfully swatted it as Gary pretended to take a wallet out of his bathing suit and waved his hand over his head. “I’ve got a fiver for the next dance.”

Bobby started to walk over to Gary before flicking his hair and walking back to his seat. “This dance is reserved for one person per night. Catch me tomorrow, Gary. Same time, same place.” 

The islanders clapped as he plopped back down to Cass. “That alright, love?”

Cass nodded, “If baking doesn’t work out, I would book you for a hen’s nights.” 

“Me too,” Emily said from across the circle as she pretended to fan herself. “Who knew you were working with so much, Bobby?” 

Bobby winked, “I don’t mean to brag but I have won a couple of contests in my days including a wet t-shirt contest when I went to Mexico for a proper American style spring break.”

“Aren’t those for females?” Jakub said.

“Technically, ladies are the ones encouraged to sign up, but there was no rule that I couldn’t sign up as well. And let me tell you, I gave it my all and was rewarded by a Pina Colada the size of my face.”

Lucas’s phone interrupted them. “It says I have to snog a girl for 30 seconds.” He locked eyes with Cass and stood up, starting to cross the circle. Cass started to push herself up before she saw Blake spring up.

“Well,” Blake said, looking around, “if no one is going to offer I will kiss you, Lucas.”

"Oh,” Lucas said, his face falling a moment before he composed himself. He looked at Cass and Cass playfully shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, right. Someone count us down. Not,” he said forcefully, “Gary.”

“Not Gary,” Gary mimicked, leaning back. “What’s so wrong with my counting?”

“Some of us aren’t sure you can count that high,” Ibrahim teased.

Lucas leaned down to kiss Blake, his lips tight together. Cass started counting down for them, trying to not go too fast or too slow. Blake was not deterred by Lucas’s lack of enthusiasm and moved her one hand to his hair, and the other traced the back of his neck. It seemed like that might have been a sweet spot for Lucas because the kiss no longer looked like he was politely kissing an elderly relative and got steamy pretty quickly. 

“That’s it, son! Come on. That’s ten seconds,” Gary said, looking around. “See, I can count.”

Jakub tilted his head to watch the challenge, “They seem to be enjoying this…”

“You’re one to talk, mate,” Gary shot back, looking quickly at Emily. 

“Five, four, three, two, one!” Cass counted down, and Lucas quickly pulled away. “How does he rate, Blake?”

Blake looked at Lucas and then looked at Cass, “Top villa kiss so far.”

“We’ll have to get you another one, love, so you can compare,” Bobby said, reaching behind Cass to push Noah. “Noah, here, will-“

“Will continue to sit until I get a specific challenge, thank you very much.”

As though it was planned, Noah’s phone rang out.

Bobby leaned forward to look at him, “Read it out, mate. Hope it’s a good one. I hope it challenges you to kiss all the-“

“I just have to give a girl a piggyback round the pool.”

“Cass,” Bobby said quickly before anyone could volunteer. “Cass, you’re right there. Stand up, get on his back. Do it for the cocktails."

Cass stood, standing on the chair to make it easier and climbed on Noah’s back without a word. She certainly was not going to be the reason they lost. “Giddy up,” she said, playfully pretending to wave a lasso above her head.

Noah started at a light jog, his hands gently holding her calves as he turned the corner around the pool. “I’m afraid I’ll lose my balance and we’ll tumble over,” he said to her quietly. “I don’t want to cause any injuries.”

“I’m tough,” she said, lightly tapping her foot against his side. “And I’ll hold on,” she said, tightening her arms around his chest. She got a burst of pleasure throughout her body from being so close to him. She could pretend all she wanted, but she was undoubtedly attracted to the librarian. 

He sped up as he look the last turn, leaning into the turn on one foot that Cass thought he really was going to lose his balance and she let out a small gasp. “Only joking,” he laughed as he came back to the group. “She thought I was going to drop her.”

“Mate, could you have gone any slower?” Gary complained. “We’re going to lose this. For all we know, they might have a track star over there.”

Noah lazily lifted one shoulder in response before letting Cass’s legs go so she could slide off his back. “Safety first.”

“Maybe,” Jakub spoke up, “Noah enjoyed having a girl on his back and that was the cause for his slowness. If it was me-”

“Maybe,” Noah interrupted, “you should shut the fuck up.”

“Easy,” Ibrahim said, looking ready to stand if the boys were going to come to a screaming match again. 

Noah raised his hands up as he sat back down next to Cass, “I’m good.”

“Oh,” Sophie said, her phone dinging. “I’ve got a text. I have to make a boy blush.”

Shannon’s hand shot up, bringing Ibrahim’s hand with it. “Do Rahim! Ask him for a pick up line.”

Sophie hopped up and walked over to Ibrahim. “Do you have your phone in your pants, Rahim? Or are you just happy to see me?” 

Ibrahim cleared his throat, “Can I call you my name?” 

Sophie’s face scrunched in confusion, “What?”

Ibrahim shook his head, his face reddening. “Ah, shoot. I can never get them right.” He looked around the circle, “Someone help me out?"

“We don’t have to, mate,” Gary said, excitedly. “You already won that one for us. Certainly we beat the villa on that.”

Shannon looked pleased as punch to have helped the group. “See, I told you guys that Rahim would blush first.”

“Does it even count?” Noah questioned. “He made himself blush.” Cass elbowed him hard in his side. “Ow, what?”

“Are you trying to win this or do you want us to all have nothing to do tonight?”

“Do you,” Ibrahim tried again, his voice was lower as he attempted the line on Shannon, “have a name? Or can I call you mine?”

Shannon fluttered her eyelashes at him, “You can call me whatever you want to, sweetie.” 

“Well,” Sophie said, “I think it still counts. It was my presence that caused him to try and say a line. And it was quick, unlike your power walk around the pool.”

“Wow,” Noah said, leaning his head back, “is it rag on Noah day?” 

“And here I was thinking that was last night,” Cass dropped her voice so only Bobby and Noah could hear. 

“I’ve got a text!” Emily called out. “Everyone has to suck a toe of a fellow islander.”

Cass shook her hands out in front of her, “Oh, ew. Can we just decide to lose?”

Bobby already leaned back on the chair, lifting up his foot near her face, “Come on, Cass, just a little nibble of the little toe.”

Cass pushed his foot away, laughing, “This is so gross. Feet are disgusting.”

“If you do his, Cass, I can do yours and Bobby can do mine and we’ll be done quickly. A triangle,” Noah said, moving from the chair to the ground. “It will be over and done with and we can all go wash our mouths after.”

Cass sighed, sliding on to the ground and holding Bobby’s foot as he wiggled his toes in delight at her. “Fine, but don’t say I’m not a team player.” She extended her legs to where Noah was now seated on the ground and closed her eyes, opening her mouth and tried to imagine Bobby’s toes as anything else. 

She felt Noah’s hot breath on her foot before she felt his mouth on her big toe. She didn’t know if it was supposed to feel good, as she was just keeping her lips barely on Bobby’s little toe, but Noah had certainly a way to make the entire act inappropriately sensual for it being just a challenge. She felt his teeth playfully scrape her skin- was that his tongue? Cass’s eyes flung open and she looked at Noah who slowly removed her toe from his mouth and smirked. 

“That should be enough, right?” Emily said, taking a swig from her water bottle and spitting it on the ground. 

“I think we’re good,” Cass replied, flustered as she took her seat. Noah sat down next to her like he hadn’t just played tonsil hockey with her big toe. As Bobby went around giving the circle a high five for their sacrifice for the game, Cass lowered her voice and asked Noah, “Do you have a foot fetish?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he said back, examining his fingernails. “I’m just playing to win.”

Cass stared straight ahead. Was he… no- he couldn’t be, she told herself. He was just messing with her. There was no way the librarian was interested in her. Or, she considered, maybe he was. Maybe he also was attracted to her, maybe the spark she felt when their legs brushed as they sat next to each other carried over to him as well. 

Shannon interrupted Cass’s thoughts, “How many more challenges do we think we have? I mean, it can’t really get any worse than making out with someone’s foot, right?” Shannon looked pointedly at Noah.

“Are you not enjoying it?” Jakub asked, puffing out his chest a bit. “Did you not suck on the right toe?”

“Jesus,” Rahim said, rubbing his head. “Do you ever stop?"

“It’s okay, Rahim,” Shannon said, looking over at Jakub and smiling. “I don’t think that big lug over there could handle me. He seems to have minimal brain cells and no staying power from what I heard from Emily last night.”

Jakub’s jaw dropped and Gary covered his mouth but couldn’t contain his laughter.

Thankfully, before they could discuss Jakub’s bedroom prowess (or controversial lack-thereof), a phone dinged. “It’s me,” Siobhan said. “It says for the last challenge, one girl and one guy have to go into the cupboard while the rest of us do 7 pushups, 7 star jumps and 7 burpees.”

Cassandra was about to volunteer as she did not work out when Blake stood up and grabbed Lucas’s hand. “We’ll go,” she declared, pulling Lucas to the cupboard. Lucas looked helplessly back at the group.

“We, um,” Cass started, “might be here awhile. I don’t even know what a burpee is?” 

After the group finished their small workout, Gary and Noah had helped Cass with her push ups and coached her through the burpees, they walked over as a group to the cupboard. When they opened it, Blake looked pleased as could be as she exitedand pulled Sophie and Siobhan to gossip. 

“Are we done?” Lucas asked, stepping back out into the light. 

“Yeah, mate,” Rahim nodded, “it was the last challenge.”

“Did we win?” 

Cass’s cheeks felt hot, “Doubtful.” 

Lucas looked crestfallen as Noah’s phone rang out. 

“Ah,” Noah said, “it’s confirmed. The other villa won the cocktail party.”

“All for nothing,” Lucas said as the islanders scattered to figure out how to fill the rest of the day. “We have a problem, guys,” he said, looking at Bobby and Noah and pointedly avoiding Cass’s eyes. “Blake asked to share a bed while we were in there and I didn’t know what to say so I said yes.”

Bobby excitedly wrapped his arm over Lucas’s shoulder and rubbed his head with his knuckles. “Look at you, mate! You’ve managed to reel in a fish.”

“Why is that a problem?” Noah asked, crossing his arms. 

“Well,” Lucas said, pushing Bobby off him, “I was with Gary. That leaves Gary with an empty bed and we all know Lottie will chop little Gary off if she finds out he shared a bed with one of the girls.” 

“Don’t let Gary hear you call it little Gary. I bet he’s named it something after a crane. Or maybe just The Crane.” Bobby laughed. “It’s not a big deal, I can share with Gary. I don’t want Catherine to hear anything about me sharing with one of the Casa girls- no offense, Cass.”

“Why would I be offended by that?” 

“And me?”

Bobby wagged his finger, “That does seem to leave you, Noah.” There was silence for a second before he jumped up, “I’ve got it.”

“I get my own bed and three girls pile into one?” Noah asked, his eyes widening.

“No,” Bobby smiled, looking like a plan just came together. “Cass.”

“Cass?” Noah and Lucas said in unison.

“Me?” 


	7. Chapter 7

Cass crossed her arms and stared at Bobby, “How am I the answer to this problem? If you sleep in my bed, I still count as a Casa girl.”

“No, Cass,” Bobby said, his hand outstretching to hold her shoulder. “You’re going to bunk with Noah, it’s perfect.”

“How is that perfect?” Lucas asked, his eyes narrowing at Bobby. “Noah has Hope.”

“She’s already pissed at him,” Bobby answered. “His hole is already dug quite deep, so what is another shovel full of dirt in the end?” Noah glanced off, biting his lower lip but not saying anything to the plan. Bobby took the silence as agreement and continued, “Plus, and this is why it is so brilliant, Cass here struggles with insomnia so Noah’s loud snoring won’t keep her up- she’ll already be up.”

Cass rolled her eyes, “I’m not up every night, Bobby. That’s not how it works. Sometimes I can sleep.” 

“Well, who else is there?”

“He could sleep outside,” she answered, looking at Noah. “Don’t you have a say in this?”

Bobby pretended to swat away a fly, “It’s buggy out here at night, lass. I know you’ve only been here one night but let me tell you, sleeping outside is not ideal. Catherine had to when Priya came in and the poor love had bug bites all up her legs.”

“I don’t mind,” Noah spoke, his eyes meeting hers before quickly looking away, “if you don’t. I don’t really know the other girls in here and if it is me who needs to find a bed partner, you wouldn’t be the worst option.”

Cass let out a loud sigh, “Alright, fine. I will sacrifice my sleep so you all don’t get murdered by your partners. I would offer to sleep head to foot but I think that might tempt you too much,” she said, turning away from the trio of boys and walking to find Emily to see how she was doing with the Jakub and Siobhan kiss.

“Cass, wait!” Lucas said behind her as he quickly caught up. “About Blake-“

“You know I’m not bothered.”

Lucas reached out to stop her from walking, “I know you’re not but when we were talking earlier, I was going to see if you wanted to share a bed tonight. Then the text went off and Blake asked when we were closed in a cupboard together- I wanted you to know that."

“Oh. Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Cass brushed her hair away from her face. “I would have said yes if you asked.” 

“That did not, in fact, make me feel any better,” he said, his face looking pained. 

Cass ran her hand down his arm, “Don't worry about it. It’s one night, and maybe you two will hit it off. She seems lovely. I need to go find Emily though, we can chat later?”

He nodded, looking dejected, and she gave him one last small smile before walking off. In the kitchen, she ran into Shannon and Ibrahim. Ibrahim had his hands on Shannon’s hips and they were giggling together as Cass walked in. “Cass,” Shannon said, pulling Ibrahim closer to her. “Rahim and I were discussing that steamy make out session you had with Noah.” 

“We didn’t-“

“Or should I say Noah and your toe,” Shannon wiggled her eyebrows at Cass.

Cass felt her cheeks flush, “You weren’t too busy with Ibrahim’s toe to watch us?”

Shannon leaned into Rahim, her arm lazily wrapping around his waist, “I was observing what everyone was getting up to. I like to make sure I know what is going on. And what was going on was Noah seductively looking at you while he popped your toe into his succulent mouth of his.”

“Succulent?” 

“Totally succulent,” Rahim responded, not turning to look away from Shannon.

“I didn’t think you had a chance of staying in the villa, but now I put you at 30 percent. Still not great, but better than zero.”

Cass looked at Rahim, who looked entranced with Shannon, and held back from ruining the moment by saying something about how calculating Shannon was in how much she wanted to get back into the villa. Instead, she rolled her eyes and asked, “Have you seen Emily?”

“I think she’s in the bedroom,” Shannon answered. 

“With Jakub?” Cass asked, wanting to not walk in to anything unseemly. 

“Oh no,” Rahim shook his head, finally looking at Cass. “He’s with Siobhan and Sophie in the pool.”

Cass thanked them before making her way to the bedroom where she heard quiet cries coming from under the covers of one of the beds. “Emily?” The cries stopped for a moment but then started up again after a few seconds. “Emily, it’s Cass. Do you want to talk?"

“No,” came the reply from one of the middle beds and Cass went to find which lump was only covers and which one was Emily. Tapping something hard that she figured was Emily’s leg, Cass got into the bed next to her. “Are you here to tell me that I was stupid for doing bits the first night?” Emily’s voice said from underneath the duvet.

Cass lifted the duvet and slid under the comforter with Emily, who’s face was swollen from crying. “Why would I do that?”

“It’s what everyone is saying,” she said between sobs. “I know it. Especially with Jakub acting like he is.”

“That’s not your fault,” Cass said, brushing a tear from Emily’s eye. “He’s being really muggy.”

Emily wailed, “I have pie all over my face. I’m going to be known as the girl who had sex on television anywhere I go, and it’s not even going to be with a nice boy. My parents are going to kill me.”

Cass patted the top of Emily’s head,”I think people can be really cruel about that sort of stuff but I don’t think you should be ashamed. You're adult, and you made a choice. And your parents? Well, if it was my parents, they’d be more upset that some boy thought he could treat me like that. They’d be trying to barge in the front door. I’m sure your parents will be more concerned about how you are feeling."

“He told me after the challenge, like right after it, that he was going to see if Siobhan wanted to share a bed.”

“What a knobhead. Be thankful you only spent one night with him. If he acts like this, you don’t want him and he’s not worth it.”

Emily stayed quiet for a second, “Do you want to share a bed tonight? I don’t want to be with Sophie. She’s Siobhan’s best mate in here. They’ll both be radiating smugness.”

Cass gulped, “God, I wish I found you after the challenge. I told the boys I would share with someone already.”

Emily’s eyes widened and she for the first time she was able to control the small sobs escaping from her mouth. “What? Who? Is it Lucas? God, he looks so moony anytime he sees you. Like yeah, you’re gorgeous, but I’m here, too.”

“No, but he is the cause of all of this. Blake asked him to share a bed.”

“Oh my God, of course she did. She is so jealous of how much he likes you. Did you see him try to complete the kissing challenge he got with you? He was like half way across the circle before she sprung up.”

“You seem happier already to learn about my misery,” Cass joked, pulling the duvet from their faces. “I don’t think she should be jealous, I think he just likes a challenge.”

Emily propped herself up more, sitting against the headboard. “You did come off a bit frigid yesterday, but I don’t think that’s the only reason he is going for you. But if it’s not Lucas- Bobby? You guys seem to be mates.”

“No,” Cass shook her head, “he’s going to share with Gary so they both can keep their penises. He is the one who suggested that Noah and I share, so thanks a lot, Bobby.”

“Noah?” Emily said, looking stunned. “You are sharing with the Adonis himself? The sexy librarian? Please, please at least try to make out with him so you can tell me what it’s like.”

“I’m glad you find my situation amusing,” Cass said, with a laugh as she swung her legs out from under the covers and stood. “I won’t be doing any of that. I think Bobby thought- she’s a mate, no harm no foul putting them together.”

“Lots of harm and lots of foul play, please,” Emily said, rubbing her eyes. “Do I look hideous?”

Cass looked at her, turning her head to the side to examine Emily’s face, “You look a little swollen, I won’t lie. Maybe try and lie here with a cold towel for a bit. It’s not like we have anything to do since I lost us the challenge.”

Emily closed her eyes, “You truly were terrible at the push ups.”

“I was going to tell people to let me take it, but Blake was so quick.”

“She wanted to get that bed time with Lucas tonight. Little did she know, you would emerge the victor. God, she’s going to rage when she hears. We all wrote off Noah and here you are, about to share a bed with him.”

Cass lightly tossed a pillow at her, “As mates.”

“As mates,” Emily mocked, laughing as Cass walked out from the room. 

* * *

“I guess we should get to know each other,” Noah leaned back in his chair, “if we are going to be sharing a bed.”

“Okay, ask away.”

“Alright, last relationship?”

“Oh,” she said, sitting up, “we are getting to know each other that way? Not like- what’s your favorite color, Cassandra? It’s purple, by the way. A very specific mix of lilac and lavender and not as clothing or anything, but maybe a good nail polish.”

“Are you avoiding the question?”

“I’m just surprised that’s what you lead with if we are trying to be friends.”

“I didn’t say that was what I was trying to be.”

“What are you trying to be?”

“Bed mates.”

“Sounds dirty.”

Noah lazily rolled his eyes, “Fine then, mates who share a bed while they are on a television show.”

“Last relationship,” she said, leaning back into her chair and staring at the sky. “Are you sure you want to start with that? It’s a bit of a loaded question.”

“I have the time to hear all of the details. Some of us couldn’t do push ups if their life depended on it.”

“Says the man who trotted around the pool,” she said, miming with her fingers his slow gait. “Well, my last relationship ended right before Love Island.”

“Did he find out you applied to this show and broke it off? Bold of you to apply while you were still dating.”

“No,” she said, focusing on a cloud while she talked. “He broke it off the night that I finished school. He said he didn’t think I was ready for the next step, which I think implies that he was ready for it.” she continued, closing her eyes as she imagined Theodore's face as he broke up with her. “Which, I thought was odd. He had always talked about how much fun we had together and how he liked that we could go out and have a good time. So I stewed on it for a week, really thought about what he said and then drove up to London to give him a piece of my mind. I mean, we were together the entire time I was in Uni and it was like suddenly it dawned on him that we were at different stages of life? I get to his flat and I bang on his door, and I’m really ready to give him a piece of my mind, and the door opens and his girlfriend is there and she’s holding their dog.”

“No,” Noah said, his voice conveying the shock that she had felt when the girl opened the door.

“Yes, and he was behind her with a box. They were moving in together. Suddenly the need to break it off with me made sense.” 

Cass could see Theodore’s face as though he was standing right before her. His jaw had dropped ever so slightly before his facade came back and he tried to save face with his girlfriend. She had been surprised, when she watched him maneuver the situation, that she had ever been attracted to him as he had such ugliness hidden beneath the surface. 

Sheopened her eyes, and turned her head to look at Noah. Noah had adjusted so he was lying on his side, facing her, giving her his full attention. “He had given this entire speech when he was breaking up with me, like he was doing me a favor, as though he was no longer going to drag me down.” Her lips pulled into a tight smile. “A right ass, really.” 

“I’m sorry, Cass.” 

“Yeah, well, my friend called her cousin who works for the show and said she had a perfect candidate to come in and give the boys hell. I think her cousin is probably regretting that she said yes.”

“I think you’re doing fine,” Noah said, his arm lifting from his side and reaching slightly over before he decided better of it and flipped to his stomach, his eyes still on hers. “But maybe explains your prickliness to start?”

Cass blinked at him, “Are you serious?”

“Can’t be easy trying to move on that quickly.”

“It would have been if any of you were the least bit interesting,” she shot back.

“You don’t think Rahim being a professional golfer is interesting? I’m going to tell him, he’ll be devastated,” Noah teased. 

“Not as interesting as a moody librarian,” she replied. “Have you ever had sex in the stacks?” 

Noah looked disgusted, “Are you serious? I’m a librarian, not a porn star. That would be disrespectful to the books.” Cass started to frown when he slowly winked at her with the eye closest to the chair. “I can’t believe you would ask me that, Cassandra,” his voice sounded like it was admonishing her but he had a wicked grin on his face. 

“I didn’t realize I was here with the morals police. Fine, then, when was your last relationship?”

“Number one, it’s my turn to ask the questions as you wasted yours on that sick question. And two, does Hope count?” Before he could give her time to respond, he continued, “My question to you is what is your middle name?”

“So now we are throwing soft questions out. You feel bad, don’t you? Don’t. I mean, feel bad. It is what it is.” Cass licked her lips before answering, “I don’t have one actually. My parents say that their intention was that I get confirmed in the Catholic Church and take that name as my middle name. I think they were just being lazy honestly. They couldn’t come up with anything good to put between Cassandra and Speridakos. Is it my turn now?"

“It was but you just wasted your turn on asking me if it was your turn."

“Noah!” 

“I kid. Ask me anything.” He drooped his arm down the chair, his knuckles brushing the ground. 

“Okay,” Cass said, thinking for a moment. “Okay, I’ve got one but you have to promise to answer honestly.”

“It’s the only way I know how to answer.”

“If it was the Casa girls who walked out the first day, who would you have stepped forward for?”

“No one,” Noah said, pushing up from his stomach and moving back to lie on his side. “It was a good strategy the first time, why change it?”

“Didn’t you step forward for Hope?”

“No, love, you weren’t paying attention. She beelined for me. I didn’t have to do anything.”

“God, what it must be like to be an attractive male with all the confidence in the world.”

“That’s where you are mistaken.” She watched as his teeth pulled in his bottom lip and slowly released it. She felt herself staring at his mouth and was shaken from the trance he had somehow put her in when he continued to talk. "You think I didn’t step forward because I knew someone was going to pick me regardless? But it is actually the opposite. I can be painfully shy, which sometimes manifests into me coming off as an asshole, but thinking about stepping forward and not being picked- it was enough to keep me firmly glued to my spot and just see what happened.”

Cass sighed, “I feel like this answer is an unfair loophole. I want a new question.”

His hand moved up to the side of his face, blocking the glare of the sun and Cass had to stop herself from looking away from his constant, direct eye contact. “You asked for honesty, that was my honest answer. If I was forced to step forward, I would have stepped forward for Sophie. She looks a lot like Hope and I don’t want to say I have a type, but Hope is gorgeous and so is Sophie.”

“A one woman man,” Cass commented. “How incredibly sweet.”

“And-“

“There’s an and?”

“And maybe you,” he said, his eyes daring her to comment. “If you played nice.”

“No chance of that,” she said, turning her head away so he couldn’t see her blush. “Oh look,” she pointed, “it looks like Bobby is doing something in the kitchen. I’m going to go see what he is up to, I guess. I don’t want to get a sun burn or heat stroke or any other sun related maladies.” 

She stood from the chair, not daring to look back at Noah but he spoke as she started to walk away. “Sun burn, makes sense.”

Cassandra quickly looked back at him, her eyebrows raised. “What makes sense?”

“Your cheeks, they’ve turned a bit pink.” He looked smug as he brushed his own cheeks. “Must be the sun burn you are worried about."


	8. Chapter 8

“How has the second day in the villa gone for you, Cassandra?”

Cass was relieved to hear the same voice come into the beach hut that she heard the day before. Sure, she had a difficult time opening up to the mysterious omnipresent voice, but she at least thought they were forming a connection.

“The second day has gone a lot better than the first, if I’m being honest. It’s less awkward trying to talk to people and figure out who your mates are in here.”

“And who are your mates in the villa?”

Cassandra pulled her legs up so she was sitting cross legged in the chair, “Emily, probably, is my best girl from the Casa girls. I haven’t really gotten to know the other girls as well. Probably makes me look like a bitch, honestly, but I don’t agree with how Sophie and Siobhan talked about Emily earlier. I thought Blake and I could get along but she is… she is definitely trying to get into the villa and I think a little protective of Lucas at this point.”

“Do you like Lucas?”

“Lucas is a nice lad. We have a little bit of banter. He’s funnier than I thought and way more open about what he wants than I would expect. I’m not sure if it’s because he hasn’t had the easiest time in the villa making a connection but he is definitely the one that seems to be most open to bringing a girl back. I guess, I should say, most open to me about it. Rahim seems set on Shannon.”

“Let’s switch gears for a second, what about your new found friendship with Noah?”

Cass willed herself not to blush, tried to think pure thoughts of elderly people crossing the street as she opened her mouth to talk, “Noah is nice. He’s a lot different than what I thought he was like yesterday. I think we are mates.”

“Just mates?”

She sighed, covering her face and shaking her head, “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Cassandra, you can do it.” The voice was encouraging and she knew that she shouldn’t bare her soul and her thoughts in the beach hut- whatever she said about Noah was sure to get play on the show, but she wanted to talk to someone about it. Or at least talk out loud about it.

“He’s fit. He’s really, really fit. And he, now that we don’t hate each other at first sight, has taken the opportunity to get to know me. Did I mention that he was fit? I feel like a fool, honestly, I’m sure he is talking to the guys in the villa about Hope and how he can’t wait to get back to her and here I am nursing a crush on the very, very not available guy. Maybe because it seems safer? There’s no way Noah brings someone back, and I’m still nursing a bit of heartbreak so it seems like some harmless banter with a hot lad. Am I blushing?” she said, staring at the camera in the wall.

“You look great, Cassandra,” the voice answered back. “That’s all for right now, thank you.”

Cassandra stood, wishing she could have a moment alone in the house but it was impossible with all the cameras and people. She wanted to be with her thoughts about Noah for a few more minutes, to try and figure out what was happening. They were friends, she decided, but was it only her imagining that he was flirting with her? Was she falling for all that Love Island had to offer in the form of a tall, buff librarian?

She walked out from the beach hut, glad to not run into anyone in the hallway and headed to the villa and up to the make up room where the girls were getting ready for the night. They didn’t have a cocktail party, but they were all trying to make the best out of it and have a fun night.

“How’d it go, Cass?” Emily asked from her spot at the vanity. She was carefully applying eyelashes and was dressed in a gold mini dress that Cassandra was envious of.

“Fine, yeah,” Cassandra said, squatting near her bag and trying to find something to wear for the night. “Just the usual.”

Emily turned to look at her, one eyelash safely in place and the other on her fingertip, “Did they ask about sharing a bed with Noah?”

“You’re sharing a bed with Noah?” Sophie spun her head around to get into the conversation, looking at Emily who was nodding smugly.

“Thanks, Emily,” Cassandra said, pulling out a neon pink romper that had a plunging neckline and a keyhole back. Emily smiled at her, slightly shimming her shoulders in excitement. “As mates. It’s just so Bobby and Gary can share.”

“Still,” Sophie said, looking at Siobhan who was wearing a classic little black dress, “imagine being the little spoon to him. We all agree,” she looked around the room “that he’s the fittest one here, right? And you just happen to get to share a bed with him? I’d kill you in a jealous rage if we weren’t on camera.”

Blake cleared her throat slightly, “I mean, it’s just as mates. Is that really anything to get excited about? And I think Lucas is the fittest one here.”

“Lucas is good looking,” Shannon said, pulling her hair away from her face quickly and standing up. “And so is Rahim, but Noah is a different breed.”

“More Lucas for me, then,” Blake said as she dabbed on lip gloss. “But we’re all happy for you, Cass. Especially me. I’m sure it was really tough to find out that Lucas’s bed was already taken.”

Cass pressed her hands together and bowed her head slightly, her lips touching the tips of her fingers, “So tough, Blake. I was truly, truly heartbroken.”

Blake looked pleased at the answer as she stood, her white jumpsuit hugging her curves. “Come on, Shannon. Let’s go find our men.”

“Me too,” Siobhan squeaked as she stood quickly to join the two other girls to go greet the waiting guys outside.

Sophie looked pissed as she watched Siobhan exit. “As though they are any better than us,” she grumbled. “Did you guys hear Shannon earlier?” She unscrewed the cap to her mascara and turned to face Emily and Cass. “She was saying how her plan was all coming together. Do you think she even likes Rahim?”

“Why do you care?” Emily shot back, rising from her seat and checking herself out in the mirror. “Do you want to pull a Siobhan and go for one of our sloppy seconds?”

Sophie frowned, “Emily, I’m sorry about what I said earlier-“

“You’re only sorry because your best mate in here is now glued to Jakub and you are left alone,” Emily said back. “Do you want to go outside, Cass?”

“Uh,” Cass said, pulling the front pieces of her hair away from her head and into a quick top bun and looking towards Sophie who was blinking quickly, a move Cass instantly placed as a way to try and stop tears from falling. “I think maybe we should quell this before we go out. You two have to share a bed tonight. Maybe we just agree that the pressure of being in here has made us say or do things we might normally not?”

Sophie nodded, trying to lean into Cass’s prebuilt apology for her, “I got caught up, Emily. I really am sorry. I should have never said anything about you. It was easier to be mad about it that admit I was jealous.”

“Fine,” Emily said, sweeping her red hair into a low bun. “I accept. Are you guys ready yet? One of us needs to make the ultimate sacrifice and save Lucas from Blake. ”

Cass held out her hand to Sophie, helping her up, and linking their fingers. “I don’t think Blake’s going to allow us single girls within ten feet of Lucas alone now that they’re sharing a bed.”

The three of them emerged to the backyard with linked arms. Jakub and Siobhan were nowhere to be found as Cass scanned the yard. Shannon and Rahim were cuddled up on a lounger near the pool, separate from the rest of the group. Blake had her hand in Lucas’s back pocket as the two of them talked to the three single boys in the kitchen.

Bobby let out a loud whistle, “Took your time getting ready, girls, but it was worth it. You all look fire.”

Gary came over to them, squeezing in between Cass and Emily and throwing his arm around Cass’s shoulders. He leaned on Cass, “My new best mate, I tell you.”

“What are you talking about, Gary?”

“Making sure I stay intact, it was the nicest thing someone has done for me in the villa. Having to listen to a buzzsaw at night right in your ear so Bobby and I could cuddle up?” He pretended to wipe away a fake a tear, “It touched me. A true friend, Cass.”

Cass rolled her shoulder so she could get her arm out and wrapped it around his back. “It was my pleasure. How could I say no when Bobby expressed fear for The Crane?”

Bobby did a spit take, coughing as he brushed Noah with his hands trying to dry him off. “Jesus, Cass,” he snickered.

“The Crane?” Gary asked.

“Your penis,” Lucas clarified, looking amused.

Gary looked pleased, “The Crane? I love it. I never could get a name that was quite right. I tried Larry. Gary and Larry. No one wanted to call him Larry.”

“Alright,” Noah said, taking a sip of his water. “Isn’t that enough talk of Gary’s penis for one night?”

“Is it ever enough talk, mate? I could go on for days about this thing. Never had a complaint.”

Lucas looked doubtful. “Really? With the numbers you have, you’ve never had a complaint? What was it exactly? 70?”

Gary shrugged, “Can’t be ashamed of your past, mate. It’s taught me things you could only dream of.”

“Lucas,” Blake interrupted, “do you want to go chat by the fire pit? Maybe get some alone time?”

Lucas looked at Blake, his lips turning down. “Uh, sure.” Cass caught Sophie’s eye and gave her a quick smirk. Cass couldn’t decide if Blake could hear the hesitation in Lucas’s voice or if she was blinded by her lust for him.

“Poor guy,” Gary said, watching the two of them.

Noah shook his head, “He’s an adult, he could have said no. He has literally made his bed tonight.”

“Actually, I made it this morning,” Gary said, nodding proudly. “Lottie told me that you should always make your bed in the morning, something about feeling accomplished.”

Bobby walked over and hit Gary on the chest lightly with the back of his hand, “Lottie had to tell you that, huh? Did your nan do it before that?”

Cass excused herself from where she was standing and moved to go fill her water. She had been avoiding Noah since their conversation on the loungers, which was hard to do in the villa but she had busied herself by making Bobby teach her how to make cupcakes, but now had to step into his kitchen territory near the sink. “Excuse me,” she cleared her throat, motioning Noah to move away from the sink. “Trying to stay hydrated here.”

“For your sunburn?” his voice was low, and the chatter of Gary and Bobby easily overpowered it.

“Funny,” she said as she unscrewed the cap on her water bottle.

Noah lightly brushed her cheek with his index finger, “I haven’t ever seen a sun burn go away so quickly, Cass.”

“Ay, mate,” Bobby said, peering over to where they were standing. “Does Cass have something on her face? Did you not wash the frosting off from earlier, Cassandra?” Bobby wiggled his eyebrows at the two of them.

Cassandra pretended not to hear him as she turned on the faucet and filled her water bottle. Noah also chose to not respond to Bobby, at least verbally, as his shoulders shrugged and he leaned on the counter, his back to the group as he watched Cassandra.

“What? Do I actually have frosting on my face?” Cassandra’s voice sounded steady to her own ears but she could feel her heart start to hit against her rib cage, faster and stronger than before.

Noah shook his head. “Where are these cupcakes you ran off to make?”

“We ate them,” Cass replied. “Well, the batter mostly. I think only a couple of cupcakes made it into the oven. I think Bobby gave them to Gary as a thanks for sleeping with me tonight present.”

Noah’s teeth grazed his bottom lip. “Shame, I didn’t think to get you anything for that.”

“I think they’re planning on having a nice cuddle. Ours is going to have a pillow fort built between us. It’s hardly the same thing.”

They heard a whistle from behind them and Gary motioned to Noah. “Come on, mate, we’re on Lucas duty.”

Noah groaned, “For what?”

“You know he’s miserable over there. Blake is a nice girl, but she’s being an oxygen stealer. You and I have the task of rescuing him.”

“Why not Bobby?” Noah asked, pointing to the baker.

“Because you owe Lucas for picking Priya,” Bobby responded.

Cassandra rolled her eyes, “I thought you guys were over that. And since Noah is being a baby, I can go with my new best mate, Gary.”

“No,” Noah quickly said. “I’ll go. Bobby’s right, I need to do some kind of penance.”

Noah and Gary walked over to the fire pit and Sophie went with them, saying she wanted to find Siobhan.

Emily looked around before practically squealing, “He wants to devour you, Cass. Don’t you agree, Bobby? He looked like you were some kind of delicious book that he wanted to curl up and read for a weekend.”

“A book?”

“He’s a librarian, I assume it’s what turns him on.”

“Jesus Christ,” Cassandra said, rubbing her face with her hand. “One - that’s a weird thing to say. Two - not true.”

“Earth to Cass,” Emily said. “He practically stroked your face. Bobby even called him out on it.”

Bobby put his hands up, “Don’t bring me in to this.”

“Come on, Bobby,” Emily turned to him. “Tell us your thoughts. You know him better than we do. You must have felt that electric energy when he reached out,” Emily mirrored what Noah had done before and gently touched her finger to Bobby’s face. Bobby playfully moved her hand away. “You also tried to nope Nope. This could be your chance.”

Bobby shook his head, “I’m out of my anti-matchmaking career. I’m going to let Noah do what he wants and if that is bring Cass back and face the wrath of Hope- I’m certainly not going to tell him not to. I also won’t tell him that he’s been more like a real person and not a robot since he’s been in Casa or that he looks at Cass the way that Gary looks when he’s talking about a crane.”

“A crane or the crane?”

Bobby laughed, “A crane. Gary and a crane is true love. We should all strive to find someone in our life who loves us as much as Gary loves his job.”

“Guys,” Cass said, “I have to sleep in the same bed with him tonight. You are not making this easy.”

“I’ll switch with you, Cass, if you want- if you’re uncomfortable,” Bobby said. “Gary can cuddle with Noah, I’ll risk the wrath of Catherine.”

Cass bit her lip and thought for a second. “No, it’s fine. It’s one night. It will be fine. Plus, you guys are making this up. He’s in love with Hope.”

Bobby and Emily shot each other a look that was not unnoticed by Cass but Cass was comfortable in continuing to pretend that her sharing a bed with Noah was completely altruistic.

For the rest of the night, the three of them bounced around to the different groups in the villa and Cass tried to talk to anyone who was not Noah. She over stayed her welcome talking to Rahim and Shannon, who kept nudging her to go away, she pretended that she cared about Jakub’s leg routine and she even spend some time on Lucas and Blake duty with Bobby. If Noah was trying to spend time with her that night, he wasn’t actively seeking her out in her open hiding spots.

When it was time for bed, Cass washed her face and slipped into the least sexy pajamas she had. She wore an oversized t-shirt and shorts and made her way into the bedroom, slipping under the duvet of her shared bed before Noah got into the bedroom.

She closed her eyes tightly, willing herself to fall asleep before he came in but it was to no luck as she felt the bed sag with his weight as he climbed in.

“You alright?” Noah asked as she slowly opened her eyes to look at him in the dark. “Didn’t see much of you tonight.” He settled under the duvet, both of them on their backs and looking at the ceiling.

“Yeah,” she said, her voice quiet. Her head spun with the consideration that maybe he had looked for her. “You?”

There was silence between them for a moment as the other islanders made their way into their own beds. Bobby and Gary were laughing at something, Gary exclaiming that something tickled. Jakub cleared his throat to declare that it was going to be another noisy night with Siobhan giggling besides him.

As the sounds waned, Noah answered her, “Never better.”

They lay there silent and still for awhile. Cass pulled her arms under the duvet and tried to close her eyes again, but felt too much vibration coursing through her body to be tired anymore.

She felt the duvet lift a bit as Noah brought his arms under as well. She tried to pull her legs as close to the edge as possible, trying to make sure their bodies didn’t touch. Cass felt herself startle, her chest lifting from the bed as she jumped slightly, when Noah’s hand brushed hers under the duvet.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s alright,” he said, not moving his hand. It was another minute before she felt his hand move again. His palm covered the back of her hand. Cass quickly tried to think of reasons why Noah’s hand was on hers and not on the bed. She settled on that he had lost feeling in his hand from holding heavy books all day and could probably not tell her hand from the bed apart. Just as she decided that was a completely reasonable explanation, Noah’s head turned to look at her and he whispered,“You alright?”

Cass turned, resting her cheek on the pillow and looked at him. He looked like a child asking permission for something he knew he shouldn’t be doing. She took a deep breath as she slowly flipped her hand so that they were palm to palm, their actions hidden by the duvet. She could see his lips curl into a smile as he interlaced his fingers with hers.

“I’m alright,” she said, barely able to get the words out. “Are you alright?”

“I’m good,” he assured her, his eyes closing as his thumb softly brushed her hand. “Goodnight, Cass.”

“Goodnight, Noah,” Cass replied, knowing that whatever chance of sleep was slim. However, she stayed still in the bed even when the moans started up from the bed that held Siobhan and Jakub. She was willing to endure whatever the villa had to offer that night to stay like this until the morning.


	9. Chapter 9

Cass tried to keep her eyes closed through the night, feeling frustrated that despite sleeping very little the night before she still couldn’t get herself tired enough to fall asleep. Her hand started to feel warm in Noah’s, but it was the only thing giving her a small comfort so while she tossed in the bed, trying to get in a position where sleep would come- her hand stayed comfortably in his.

She wasn’t sure what time it was when she decided that sleeping was not going to come, but she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Cass knew that the time she spent in the villa was coming to an end, she might have one more full day here, but despite her initial hatred of the situation she was coming around to it. She enjoyed the banter with Bobby, she wanted to see who it was in the villa that captured his attention completely. She enjoyed the light, innocent flirtation with Lucas. And she enjoyed sharing the bed with Noah, who was quiet besides her.

Cass sat up, it dawning on her that it had been quiet through her struggles to sleep, and rested her body on her elbow as she turned to look at Noah. His eyes were closed, but he was not snoring. “Noah?” she whispered into the dark, watching as he opened one eye to look at her. “Noah,” she groaned, hitting her head back to her pillow. “Have you been up this entire time?”

Noah slowly released her hand from his and moved his hand underneath his head, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. “I wanted you to be able to fall asleep,” he whispered back. His voice was scratchy with the night seeping into his tone.

“You could have gone to sleep,” she replied, curling her hand that had held his moments ago next to her. “It wouldn’t have stopped me from sleeping.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, “Is there anything that helps you sleep?”

Cass thought, “Not really. Sometimes I would listen to an audio book that I was familiar with to drown out any thoughts of my own. I would sometimes decided fuck it and read a book instead of struggling. My ex would try and rub my back, which had mixed results.”

“I could try.”

“Noah, mate, you really don’t have to worry about it.” Cass could barely make out his features in the dark but she swore she saw him flinch when she said mate. “You should sleep, I’ll go outside or something.”

Noah turned on his side, “Come on, turn so your back is to me. Might as well try. You don’t want to have to deal with drama on no sleep again.”

Cass bit her lip, thinking over the pros and cons. The con was mostly the audience watching them, judging her. But the pro was that she might sleep, which was hard to come by, and so she was willing to try. “Fine,” she said, turning over and closing her eyes.

She felt the tips of his fingers lightly touch her back. It felt as though she was a porcelain doll that he was trying to not break with how gently he touched her through her shirt. He drew circles with the lightest of touches around her back, starting with a large one and circling to the middle of her back.

“Alright, what kind of story do you want?”

“What?”

“I’ll try my best at an audio book narration.”

“Noah,” she whispered, “you really-“

“I know I don’t,” he said, the bed creaking as he moved closer to her. Cass could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. “Come on now, what do you want to hear?”

“Tell me about your last relationship,” she said, letting her eyes close.

Noah scoffed, “That’s not a story, babe. I’ll tell you about the Velveteen Rabbit, I practically have that one memorized from all the times I’ve told it to the kids at the library. There was once a velveteen rabbit-“

Cass kept her eyes closed, letting Noah’s voice drown out the thoughts that told her she was never going to get to sleep and the thoughts that analyzed constantly why she was on a television show. She tried to picture the little boy and his stuffed toy, letting the images dance on her eyelids as she felt herself start to get a little bit tired. She curled her body into a ball, pulling her knees to her chest as Noah continued to draw the small circles on her back and tell her the tale of the little stuffed rabbit who became a real rabbit.

Her eyes opened, adjusting to the small amount of light entering the room and hearing immediately the sounds of Noah’s snores. The boys were not wrong, it did sound like a saw in her ear. However, she couldn’t be annoyed as he had gone above and beyond for her the night before in getting her to the point where she had fallen asleep. She wasn’t sure what time it was when she fell asleep or now when she was awake, it was her biggest pet peeve about the villa - no clock was right - but she knew that she at least had had a couple hours of sleep.

She tried to slip quietly out of the bed, making her way to the kitchen where she fixed herself a cup of tea and started to make some semblance of breakfast for the house. If she was going to wake early, she could at least be useful since there was nothing else to do.

Slowly, the villa started to come alive. The Islanders appearing from the bedroom with sleep still in their eyes, yawning as they greeted her. She presented each of them with their choice of breakfast and beverage.

“You’re going to leave me with no job, love,” Bobby grumbled as he took a bite of the avocado toast she made him. “Everyone keeps me on for my jokes and for my cooking. If you take the cooking away- well Gary’s got jokes too.”

“You’re welcome for breakfast, Bobby,” Cass said, reaching over and pinching his cheek. “Noah still sleeping?”

Bobby raised his eyebrows and winked at her quickly, “He was still snoring away when I came out.”

“Wait,” Siobhan said, a forkful of egg near her mouth. “Did anyone else wake last night and hear him prattling on about a rabbit? Does he sleep talk? It was so strange.”

Cass shrugged, “I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Me either,” Bobby said, looking at Cass strangely. “Although I’ve been in here with him for two weeks and haven’t picked up on any sleep talking. Maybe he was possessed.”

“Thanks for the food, Cass,” Siobhan said, grabbing her plate and washing it off. “Do you need help cleaning? Or do you want company? Do you want me to take over for the stragglers?”

Cassandra turned to Siobhan, “You don’t want to get back to Jakub? He came in early for his food.”

Siobhan shook her head vigorously, “No, no I do not. He’s not, um, as giving as I would want an ideal partner to be. I think that might have been a one night thing. Don’t tell Emily yet, she’s going to kill me.” She groaned, looking for things to do in the kitchen.

“Well we all heard you both be quite generous with your moans last night,” Bobby countered.

Siobhan shot him a look that shut him up. “Sometimes you have to pretend so it is over with,” she said as she slammed the spoon she was holding down on the counter. “I’m going to go find Sophie.”

Cass leaned over and smacked Bobby, “Really?”

“What? That’s two nights in a row Jakub has made all of us have to sleep with a pillow over our heads!”

“Then take it up with Jakub, not the girl you’ve known for 72 hours. You fool,” she rolled her eyes. “What do you think Jakub’s end plan is? Will he bring one of the girls back?”

Bobby shrugged, “He doesn’t talk to us boys much. And if he does, it’s just about how much he loves women. Sometimes he throws in a comment about Hope to rile up Noah. I think he’s enjoying his experience.”

“Who’s enjoying their experience?” Noah asked, rubbing his eyes as he walked into the kitchen. He was already in his swimsuit and despite knowing that he had fewer hours of sleep than the rest of the Islanders, Cass’s assessment of him was that he still looked like a model.

“Jakub,” Bobby said, “although we just heard that some are not enjoying the Jakub experience.”

Noah perked up, “Are we surprised? Someone who brags like that must be getting some false positive feedback. He probably assumes that he’s done his job. I wouldn’t be surprised if his style was the classic jackhammer.”

“You have to go slow and really get into it,” Bobby countered, swinging off the stool and putting his hand up and doing the same moves that he had done when he had to give Cass a lap dance during the challenge.

“That your only move, Bobby?” Cassandra called him out as she copied him, putting her arm up as though she was balancing against a wall.

Noah watched her, licking his lips briefly before the trio of them were interrupted by Gary.

“I’ve got a- Cass, mate, what are you doing?”

Cass laughed, lowering her arm. “Bobby was just demonstrating how he does it slow. I was trying to pick up some tricks.” She winked at Gary who reddened.

“Right,” he replied, turning back to the boys. “I’ve got a text for all the lads. We’re over by the firepit. It’s a video message.”

“You coming, Cass?” Bobby asked, turning his head back at her.

“No, it’s a lads’ text. Maybe it’s sexts from your ladies back in Casa Amor. I don’t want to intrude. Wait, Noah.”

“Yeah?” he turned.

She gestured at the kitchen, “What do you want for breakfast? It’s my treat.”

“Maybe just a cheese toastie, cut in half?”

“For breakfast?”

“For every meal if I could have it,” he said, rubbing his stomach as though he was afraid of the weight he could put on if he had a toasty every meal.

Cassandra went on to start the pan, putting the cheese on the bread and rubbing the outside of the bread with mayo for optimal toastiness as she heard the boys shout from across the yard. She heard Gary yell at them to quiet down before she heard a loud rush from all the boys. She avoided looking over, but she was curious about the text message. Maybe they had all been virtually dumped by the anger that came through their yelling.

She didn’t have to wonder for very long as Noah, Gary, Bobby and Lucas (with Blake trailing) came back in to the kitchen, all of them talking loudly.

“Mate, did you see her? She looked like she was in love. That man is her type on paper, she’s described him to me. There’s no way Lottie doesn’t bring him back.”

Bobby grabbed Gary’s shoulders and squeezed, “You can’t think like that.”

“Easy for you to say,” Lucas said, looking upset. “Catherine was barely in the video.”

“Girls on tour? They would kill us if they heard us yelling Lads on Tour. We’ve been respectful this entire time,” Gary continued. “And Hope, mate?” he said, the back of his hand connecting with Noah’s chest. “Hope and that guy making out? I’m sorry, mate. I thought for sure Hope would be a loyal bird.”

Noah looked unbothered as he took a bite of the toastie that Cass presented him with.

“Priya is definitely bringing that guy back,” Lucas moaned, ignoring that Blake was fluttering around him. “Did you see how she mounted him?”

“Priya mounted someone in a video?” Cassandra asked Noah, who was ignoring the chatter around him as he ate the sandwich.

“It was awful,” Blake chimed in, trying to buy favor with Lucas. “She was on the lawn-“

“On the lawn?” Cassandra asked. “Do you have the video with you?” Gary handed over his phone, looking distressed. Cass pressed play and watched the images pop up. She laughed as she handed it back, “This is what you are all worked up about, lads?”

“They’re all going to come back with new lads,” Gary whined.

Cass huffed, “Jesus, how quickly you forget. Sure, they might bring back lads- but that video is just to work you up. That looks like Priya got the sex position challenge- is she the oldest? And Hope probably made out with that guy for the challenge too.”

Gary turned his head slowly to look at Cass, “Do you think?”

Cass nodded, “And I bet they got a video as well.”

At that, Lucas, Gary and Bobby looked distressed.

“Ah mates,” Bobby said, stretching his arms around both of them and bringing them tight. “It was nice knowing you. We’re certainly all dead if that’s the case. They certainly showed my class A moves on Cass. And Lucas- well you were the star of the show.”

“Imagine what they showed of Jakub,” Noah said between bites of his toastie. “There’s too much to choose from.”

Bobby nodded, “That’s true. We should go find him, cheer him up. He would love to be the star of any video.”

That cheered up Lucas and Gary enough that they agreed to go find Jakub. “You coming, mate?” Gary asked Noah.

“In a minute,” Noah said, holding up his second half of his toastie.

Cassandra and Noah were alone in the kitchen for the moment. “You don’t seem upset,” she noted.

“I’m not,” Noah agreed. “It’s just a video. Hope is a team player, and they won the cocktail party- we should have known they did everything ten times faster and ten times better than our sad attempt to win.”

“You’re not upset that she snogged a lad?”

Noah lifted his head, catching her eye. “Should I be?”


	10. Chapter 10

“What are we supposed to do all day?” Siobhan whined from her spot on the lounge chair. “Aren’t they going to text us a fun activity? Or at least an activity?”

“I think we’re supposed to be grafting,” Sophie responded. “But all these boys don’t want to be grafted on, and I’m not wasting my time anymore.”

Siobhan laugher, “Anymore? Did you start?” 

“It’s not my fault that none of the boys are my type on paper or in real life. It’s been a nice little holiday, but I’m ready to get back to swiping. I do my best work online. It’s so much easier to pretend people are funny when you can respond with an ‘lol’ instead of actually having to laugh out loud.”

“I am so much better at pretending someone has got me off than pretending someone is funny.”

“Yeah,” Cass responded from her spot sitting in the pool, “we all heard your award winning work last night.” 

“Look,” Siobhan said, pushing her sunglasses down her eyes, “I’ve apologized. I was blinded by the potential. And he does have potential. Jakub is really sweet if you talk to him, but he’s all pep and no step.”

Sophie propped herself up on her elbows, “What does that even mean? There is no way that is a saying.”

“You know,” Siobhan said, “he was enthusiastic but he didn’t get anywhere.”

The girls stopped talking as they saw the some of the boys approach the pool. Siobhan motioned for the girls to stop talking as she spotted Jakub in the front of the back. 

“Fellas.” Cass pressed her hand to her forehead to block out the sun. “Is there a text? Do we have stuff to do today?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Bobby said, plopping down on the edge of the pool. “We think they have left us to our own devices. We’ve been brainstorming and have come up with exactly zero ideas.” Cass groaned. “Come on, lass, you must have a good idea swimming in that brain of yours.”

Cass slid off the pool step and into the water, floating around in the cool water. “What are the options? What is there in the villa to do?”

“Aye,” Bobby suddenly shouted, waving over Noah, Ibrahim and Shannon who were sitting on the bean bags. “Villa meeting.”

Cass waded around in the pool trying to think of something Villa appropriate to do. She knew that they were all supposed to be paired off and whispering sweet nothings to each other, but the Casa girls figured it was kind of helpless at this point to make a bid into being kept. Shannon, despite her obvious game playing, would be going back with Ibrahim and the rest were going to be left looking like the worst bombshells in the history of Love Island. Although with the way that Blake was still acting as Lucas’s shadow, no one had told her that this would be her last full day.

“We’re thinking of activities, boys,” Bobby told the others as they approached. 

Shannon was holding Ibrahim’s hand, “Rahim and I are just fine talking to each other over there.”

“That’s great for you and Rahim, Shannon,” Gary shot back, “but some of us are bored. Rahim, you usually have good game ideas. What about adventure golf?”

“Nah, mate,” Rahim shook his head. “Can’t do that without the adventure in adventure golf. It would be a betrayal of Henrik and honestly, I only know the golf portion.”

Cass swam up to the edge, “Alright, confession, I used to be a camp counselor in the states during the summer holidays. Do we have eggs? Something to tie people’s legs together?”

“You were a camp counselor?” Bobby asked.

“Tie legs together?” Noah chimed in. 

“For a three legged race,” Cass responded as she climbed out of the pool. “We could do dumb activities. You know, put an egg on a spoon and race around the pool. Tie people’s legs together and race.”

“There’s a lot of racing,” Blake complained. “What about like a kissing contest?”

Jakub perked up at that, “That sounds like a good contest to me.”

Cass wrapped the towel around her, “I don’t think everyone would be comfortable with that, Blake. If we don’t want to do this, that’s fine- but don’t complain you are bored to me for there rest of the day.”

That statement was how the Islanders ended up separated into two groups for any silly game they could think of. Cass provided most of the ideas, going back to the last weekend of camp where all of the campers would be divided into groups for the challenges. 

The first leg of the race was the three legged race for a lap of the pool, which when the Islanders got to Bobby and Siobhan (who offered to sit out to make sure it was judged fairly- and probably so she didn’t have to be paired with Jakub), they were do to the next lap around the pool in a wheelbarrow race. The third and final leg of the race was to grab a spoon and carefully balance an egg on it. There were all different sizes of spoon, from cereal spoons to wooden spoons which Bobby thought added another level of strategy. 

Each of the other Islanders were paired up with some article of clothing working as a makeshift tie for their legs. Noah had grabbed Cass’s hand when partners were mentioned to Lucas’s obvious dismay. His arm was wrapped around Cass’s back, holding her tight to him. “I refuse to lose to Jakub,” he had whispered to her as Bobby had tried to tie a tank top around their legs. 

Bobby shouted go and the Islanders started to try and walk towards the judges. Jakub was attempting to lift Sophie up to bypass the rules and run around the pool. Bobby pretended to blow a whistle as the rest of the Islanders tried their best to get around as quick as possible. Shannon and Ibrahim had an early lead, but all the other Islanders were not far behind.

“Okay,” Noah said seriously, “right foot.”

“My right foot or your right foot,” Cass grumbled as she tried to pick up the pace but discovered that it was Noah’s right foot. They were passed by Gary and Emily. 

He was unbothered by the communication mishap and continued to try to give orders based on lefts and rights. “Left now.”

“Noah,” Cass groaned as they moved out of sync again. “Center feet,” she commanded. They both moved as one. “Great, outside.” Again, they managed to move forward as one. “There we go.”

They quickly made up the distance between them and the others with Cass taking control. Once they made it around the perimeter of the pool, Cass made quick work of the knot that Bobby had tied. 

Cass pointed to the ground, “We both saw me try and do push ups yesterday, there is no way I can support my body weight around the pool. You’re going to need to be the hands.”

Noah tilted his head and looked at her, delaying their inevitable start. “You’re bossy,” he said, pursing his lips. “I like it.” He did as she said, supporting his weight on his hands as she tried to lift his legs up. 

“God,” Cass said, holding his ankles close to her waist, “it’s much easier when the person you are wheelbarrowing is a 10 year old.” 

Despite some hiccups, Cass and Noah finished the wheelbarrow portion in second place- still behind Shannon and Rahim. Noah carefully looked at the spoons and chose the regular spoons from the kitchen for their turn around the pool. Cass took and egg and balanced it on the spoon, taking care to wait for Noah to grab his before they started their lap.

Shannon was ahead of Rahim, who was walking quickly to catch up. They could hear Shannon whispering to Rahim her desire to win (shocking, Cass thought) and then watched as disaster hit when Shannon looked back to see where Rahim was, losing her focus on her egg and the egg dropping in front of her. 

“Shannon and Rahim have been eliminated,” Bobby commentated. “They lose their chance at winning a brand… new… car.” His gameshow announcer voice was uncanny. 

Cass’s eyes were glued to her egg as she took the last corner of the pool. She didn’t dare to look around but was disheartened when she saw Emily with the wooden spoon and Gary speeding past her and Noah. 

“At least it’s not Jakub,” Noah said between clenched teeth as he focused on their task. 

“We have our winners!” Bobby called out. Cass continued to walk until they were done and then watched as Siobhan grabbed Bobby and whispered in his ear. “You’re sure?” he asked and Siobhan nodded. “Emily,” Bobby’s voice was grim, “did you happen to drop your egg from your spoon and catch it and put it back?”

“What?”

Siobhan looked apologetic as she talked, “I saw you. When you started over there, the egg was going to drop. I though Cass and Noah were going to win so I didn’t call you guys out.”

Emily laughed a big exaggerated laugh, “You have got to be kidding me. Why would we cheat on something that has no prize?” 

“There wasn’t a prize?” Lucas asked as him and Blake walked up. “Then what was all of this for?” 

Emily threw her hands up in the air, forgetting she was holding an egg which came down and hit Gary’s arm and broke. “I am over being in here!” she shouted into the air. “I get humiliated by a guy who drops me after a night and then get called a cheater over a stupid race with no prize.” She threw the wooden spoon into the pool, “I’m over it. I’m going inside, I’m going to take a nap because someone kept me up last night. Wake me up when they open up the alcohol again.” 

They all watched, their mouths agape, as Emily stormed off to the villa. 

“Should someone go check on her?” Lucas asked, breaking the tension.

“I think we just let her simmer for a bit,” Cass replied, feeling like it was her fault for offering up the idea in the first place. 

Shannon was tugging Rahim away from the group, “Well, this was a grand old time. Rahim and I are going to go sun bathe now.”

“We are?” Rahim asked, his eyebrows raising as he looked back at the group. Cass had a feeling that while Rahim had enjoyed Shannon’s brashness at the beginning, it was starting to wear on him. The differences of their personalities starting to show as he looked sad to be pulled away from the group.

Bobby clucked, “Come on, Shannon. We’re bonding.” He interlaced his fingers to try and demonstrate how close they were. “Don’t you want to hear more of Gary’s sexcapades? You missed out on some good stories last night when you and Ibrahim went off.”

“I’m not in here to make friends,” Shannon said, turning around to look at the group. “I came to meet someone and I did and I want to spend time with Ibrahim.” 

“She reminds me of Hope,” Noah’s voice was low, his lips brushing the top of Cass’s head as he whispered so only she could hear he was talking. 

Cass remained still, processing that bit of information. Noah and her didn’t talk about the villa, or any of his previous relationships. They existed in a bubble that was somewhere in between friends and flirting, but never talking about what it meant in the whole of the game. 

Ibrahim cleared his throat, “Maybe we hang out with the group for a bit. We’ll have more time together.”

Cass watched some of the girls’ faces fall as they took in what Ibrahim meant by that. Some of them, Cass thought all of them besides Shannon, were most likely heading back home with this trip being a three day adventure they could tell their friends about. Some of them would probably get more followers on social media than they had before and quit their life pursuits to be a small influencers, but for the rest of them- the three days wouldn’t bring them anything more than a fun story to tell at a party.

“Ah, come off it, Rahim,” Gary said, trying to sound jovial. “Let’s not worry anyone. We’re all here together. Cass, you had the great ideas- do you have any more camp games?”

“Or camp stories,” Bobby offered up. “Did all the boys try and impress you in the water?”

“It was an all girls camp, Bobby,” Cass rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, guys, my last idea had a wooden spoon chucked into the pool and someone left upset.” 

“I’m not upset,” Emily said, coming back from the villa. Cass could see that Emily was trying to put on a brave face and she gave her a friendly nod. “What about that one where girls get on the lads’ shoulders in the pool?” 

They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to fill it with games. They had played a version of musical chairs (using the bean bags and dragged over lounge chairs) with Gary acting as the music. Cass introduced them to sharks and minnows, a game where one had to be the shark and get a minnow in the water. Noah had told them how his siblings liked to play Marco Polo in any pool they could find, beaming as he told them all about his little brother’s swimming skills. 

As the sun started to dim, the Islanders were surprised to have passed the full day and all of them were in good spirits. They split to get ready and Cass announced that she was going to take a shower to get the chlorine out of her hair and the sunscreen off her skin. 

She reached into the shower to turn on the water to get it to a perfect temperature and then stepped into the shower, the glass door steaming up quickly. The one thing she wouldn’t miss when she was inevitably flown home the next day was the shared bathroom and having to shower in her bikini so the footage would be useable. 

“Cass?” 

Cass heard Noah’s voice as she watched him through the fogged up glass step into the bathroom. “Yes?”

“Sorry, do you mind if I’m in here?” 

“No,” she replied. “Do you need the shower? I can hurry.”

Noah didn’t respond right away but she could see him looking in the direction of the shower and felt naked, despite having her bathing suit on. “Actually,” he said, he sounded nervous. “Do you mind if I just hop in there quickly? I want to rinse off. I can be in an out.”

“Oh,” Cass said, looking at the bubbles that dotted on her skin from her soap. “Sure, let me just wash off quickly and hop out.”

“You don’t have to,” he said, taking a step toward the shower. “Unless you mind.”

Cass’s body warmed. “Uh, yeah, sure, mate,” she said, hearing herself call him mate again and cringing. It was an involuntary reaction to his presence at this point, a way to let him know that she understood that they were mates and maybe a small bit of protection for herself from the comments on the internet that would inevitably be calling her a whore for allowing him within meters of her knowing that Hope wasn’t that far away. 

Noah opened the door slowly and entered the steamed up shower. “Jesus, you have this on full blast,” he said with a small laugh. Cass stepped back, trying to give him a wide berth. “I don’t bite.” He flashed her a smile before closing his eyes and letting the water drip down him. 

Cass wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Was she to just wait in the corner of the shower until he was done washing off? Why couldn’t he just wait? This was added to a long list of things Noah did that she couldn’t read his intent. However, she wouldn’t complain as her eyes traced his body. She felt her breath hitch as her eyes wandered over his abs and up to his face. She saw his eyes were opened now and she made eye contact with him, not looking away.

“My eyes are up here, Cassandra,” he jokingly scolded her. 

Cass rolled her shoulders back, “Well, my eyes were not.” 

“Cheeky,” he said, turning so his back was to her. Cass looked his back muscles, his strong shoulders. It was truly a loss for single girls everywhere that Hope had sunk her teeth into him so soon. “How is the view back there?”

“My eyes are shut tight,” Cass lied, bending to grab her shampoo bottle. “You didn’t want to wait?”

“We already share a bed, I thought might as well save a little water for the universe.”

“Very environmentally friendly of you,” she said, rubbing her hands through her hair. 

Noah turned, looking serious. “And, if you haven’t noticed, I try to maximize the time I spend with the people I like in the villa.”

Cass scrunched her face up in thought, “Am I one of those people?”

“You’re like the only one that applies to,” he replied.

“Bobby? Gary?”

“Ah, they’re my mates. That’s not what I meant.”

Cass shook her head, “You don’t get to be all elusive when you say something like that, Noah.”

“I thought you were smart, Cass,” Noah tsked. Cass took a small step towards the center of the shower and closed the small gap between them. “Alright, you might be getting it.”

She tilted her head, looking up at him and trying to read his face. He looked amused as she inched closer to him, their torso’s touching underneath the steady stream of water droplets. They stood their for a moment, neither of them making a move or saying anything. “This is weird,” she said, breaking the silence that engulfed them. “Are you going to make a move? I’ll only believe you mean it if you-“

Noah leaned down and kissed her. Cass heard herself gasp as their lips met. She had knew she wanted him but didn’t know how hungry she had been for this moment until he was tracing her lower lip with his tongue. Her hands had a mind of their own as they tried to find a place to rest, feeling his arms and then his torso. Noah’s hands went down her back, pausing briefly on her ass, before resting on her lower thighs and lifting her up. He pushed her against the wall of the shower, pulling back from her. 

“I was beginning to think you weren’t into me,” he said, kissing her jaw.

Cass let out a laugh and then covered her mouth, not wanting to invite any of the other islanders to look for either of them in the bathroom. “Are you serious? You are the hardest motherfucker to read. I thought maybe you just liked to hold hands when you slept.” 

Noah’s lips pressed against her collarbone and she could feel the vibration from his laugh. “I gave you so many signs.”

“What signs?”

“I hung out with you.”

“That’s what friends do,” she said as he lowered her slowly back on the ground. She looked up him, recognizing again the height difference between the two of them. “Bobby and I hang out.” 

Noah lazily raised his shoulders, “I recited a book to you so you could sleep.”

“All I’m hearing is that you are a great friend.”

“I just made out with you in a shower,” he said, grinning.

Cass smirked, “Yeah, that one I got.”

Noah bent down and pressed his lips to hers and she melted into him. Quickly he pulled back and opened the shower door. He winked, before walking out of the shower and grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. 

Cass stared at the door, even as he closed it. “Noah, seriously? You’re not going to talk about this?”

“See you later, Cass.” 


	11. Chapter 11

“Alright, Cass,” Bobby said, plopping down on the couch in front of the fire pit next to her. He turned his head and raised his eyebrows, giving her a half smile.

“Are you asking if I’m alright,” she inquired, “or using alright as a greeting?” Bobby stayed silent but nudged her gently with his shoulder. “What is it, Bobby?”

Bobby whistled, “I saw Noah come out of the bathroom earlier.”

“Great. I’m glad he is a human who uses the bathroom.”

“Ah, lass, playing it cool,” he said, moving his hand like a wave in front of him. “Going with the flow, pretending like I don’t see everything that goes on around here.”

Cass side-eyed him, “Spit it out, McKenzie.”

“He was looking all wet, glistening from a nice, hot, steamy shower.” Cass blinked at him. “And I thought to myself, didn’t Cass say she wanted to take a shower? And then I said it out loud to our mutual, close,” he winked at that part, “friend.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“And you know what he said?”

Cass huffed, amused. “I’m sure you are going to tell me.”

Bobby’s eye twinkled as it reflected the fire in front of them. “He said that you were still in there. I’ll tell you, lass, I was shocked. Completely taken aback. When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what, Bobby?” she asked, playing innocent. Although, she wasn’t sure how much of a play it was given that she had been kissed. She was innocent. 

“That you and the librarian had a thing? An actual thing. I saw you two,” he pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at hers, “making eyes at each other. And while I marked it down in my head as interesting, very interesting honestly, I didn’t think anything would happen.”

Cass ran her fingers through her hair, trying to play as though she wasn’t interested. However, she was dying to know if Noah said anything else. He had been, from what she could tell, hiding for the rest of the day. “Are you saying something happened?”

“Are you saying something didn’t happen?” he questioned. 

“A lady doesn’t shower and tell, Bobby,” she said, batting her eyelashes. 

Bobby slouched down on the seat, “Come on, mate. Give me something to live for. I would love if a true connection came out of Casa.”

Cass chuckled, “You don’t believe in the Shannon Rahim love story that Shannon writing for them?”

“There is no way that you two-“

“Sorry to interrupt,” Lucas said, waving as he walked over to them. “Bobby, do you mind if I talk to Cass for a bit? Only be a few minutes.”

Bobby nodded, hitting his hands on his knees as he stood up. “We’ll finish this later, Cass, don’t you worry.” He tapped his index finger against his temple a couple of times, “I won’t forget.” 

Lucas sat down on the couch, leaving more distance between Cass than Bobby had. He sighed, “I’m going to be completely honest, Cass, I was really hoping we would have been able to get to know each other these last couple of days.” She nodded. “I guess I just wanted to have a chat and see where your head is at. I know we haven’t talked much, but I still feel as though we might have a connection?” He sounded hopeful.

“Oh,” she said, surprised. They hadn’t hung out much since the first day, Blake had monopolized his time and she had been busy pretending not to flirt with Noah. “Right, well, I don’t know, Lucas.” She reached over and touched his knee, “I think you are so fit and you’re really nice, but tonights the last night and I don’t think we have a strong enough thing where I could ask you to take me back to the villa.”

Lucas covered her hand with his, “I would take you if you wanted to go back. For whatever reason.”

Cass shook her head no. “You are sweet and maybe in a different universe this works out, but we barely know each other. You don’t know if you like me or if you just think I am cute.”

He looked crestfallen. “It’s just so frustrating,” he said, rolling his head back and looking at the sky. “I really wanted to come in here and find something, and you walked in and I thought that maybe this was it. Maybe the universe brought us together on a show and I would find someone in this environment who I was excited to get to know and then, and I don’t want her to ever hear this, but Blake happened. And I didn’t know how to kindly tell her I wasn’t interested.”

“So you’re going to tell her tomorrow in front of everyone?”

He uprighted himself, “Do you think I’m that cruel? I told her a bit ago. She’s not taking it too well.”

Cass squeezed his leg, “You at least did the right thing.”

“It might have been a more peaceful environment if I just let it linger,” he groaned. “So, tell me, what does everyone I have any remote interest in see in Noah over me?”

She pulled her hand away, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Lucas scoffed, “Come on, Cass. I’m not completely blind.”

“It’s not an over you thing, Lucas,” she shrugged. “I didn’t rank you two and you came out second. He was there and you were with Blake and I got to know him better.”

He nodded, “Do you think he’ll bring you back tomorrow?”

“I think I’m more of a vacation flirtation than a Villa mainstay,” she replied. 

“Well,” Lucas said, standing and offering her his hand. “If you change your mind and want to cause some drama in the Villa, you know who your guy is.”

They walked arm in arm back to the Villa. Cass broke off to go find an acceptable sweatshirt to wear on top of her dress as the night had gotten cooler and she had goosebumps up and down her arms. As she approached the bedroom, she heard hushed voices and paused outside of the entrance. 

“-bring her back?” 

“I don’t know.”

It was Noah and Bobby and Cass hovered outside the door, pressing her body against the wall. It wasn’t that she was looking to spy, she just happened to walk into the conversation and wasn’t looking to interrupt.

“What d’you mean you don’t know?” Bobby sounded frustrated. “You just told me, mate, that you made out with her in a shower and you don’t know if you are going to keep her?”

“It’s complicated.”

Cass closed her eyes, feeling frustration build up in her. Of course, she thought to herself. Of course it was ‘complicated’.

Bobby’s voice started to rise, “Then why waste her time?”

“I’m not wasting her time, Bobby, I told you it is complicated. I like Cass, but I can’t hurt Hope.” 

“This is Love Island,” Bobby was practically shouting and she heard Noah trying to shush him. “You are supposed to pick who you like. If you like Cass, pick her. Bring her back. Figure out your shit. Don’t string the lass along for a couple of days and then go back to your fucked up normal. More shouting and arguing with Hope, how fun for the rest of us.”

“I know you don’t like Hope-“

Bobby interrupted, “I like Hope, man. I don’t like you two together. It’s like watching two people with personality have it ripped out of them slowly in an effort to look like a perfect couple so you two can take the money at the end of it. No one buys into the love story. Maybe, just maybe, Lottie and that’s because she is trying to be on the good side of the audience since she cracked on with Gary after Hannah left.”

“Bobby, can you please calm down?” 

“She’s my friend, Noah.”

“And you’re my friend, too. Understand that this isn’t easy for me. I am trying to figure out what to do.”

“Here is what not to do, don’t make it so no one else who is interested in her can crack on because you pair up with her any chance you get. You knew Lucas wanted to get to know her and you-“

“Cass,” Emily’s voice carried over the boy’s voices. Cass tried to motion for her to stop talking but it was too late, the boys in the bedroom had stopped their conversation. “What are you-“

“Emily,” she said, trying to sound cheery when she just wanted to crawl into her bed and mope. “I was looking for you,” she took Emily’s arm and steered her away from the bedroom. Hoping to avoid any contact with Bobby and Noah so they didn’t have to have an awkward dance around how long Cass had been near the bedroom and what she had heard.

Emily let herself get pulled away from the bedroom and outside onto the bean bags. “Cass, what’s going on?” 

Tears started to well up in Cass’s eyes and she started to rapidly blink to try and get them to not fall. “It’s nothing. I just heard something I shouldn’t have.”

“Cass, are you alright?” Emily tilted her head, trying to get a closer look at Cass in the darkness. “Are you crying? Was it Noah?”

“Cass?” Bobby called out. Cass shrunk into the bean bag, shaking her head at Emily. “Cass?” his voice was closer and soon he was looking down at her. “There you are.”

“Hi,” she said, waving up at him and trying to act like she was fine. “Was just looking for you earlier. Thought we could finish our chat.” Her voice was pitchy as her brain tried to autotune her emotions out of her voice. 

Bobby squatted down next to her, Emily looked back and forth between them trying to decide if she should go. “He’s being a prick, lass. He’s just confused. This is what he does.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she lied.

His eyes narrowed, “He’s looking for you too. He went upstairs, I went outside. I think he wants to try and explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain.”

Bobby reached out and patted her head, “You don’t need to hide what you’re thinking with me. You don’t have to talk to him if you don’t want to, I’ll stick by your side all night.” 

“Bobby.”

“Cass.”

“It’s so stupid,” she said, her tears starting to fall hot onto her cheeks. “I’m stupid,”

Bobby stood up and reached down to pick her up, his arms reaching around her to pull her up standing. “Don’t you say that, lass,” he said, hugging her. “You’re not stupid. He’s stubborn and can’t see a good thing right in front of him.”

Cass felt another body behind her as Emily spoke, “Yeah and if you’re stupid, let me remind you who let Jakub be her bed partner the first night.”

The two of them didn’t leave Cass’s side for the rest of the night as Noah hovered around them, trying to get a moment alone with Cass. Bobby also orchestrated, quite sneakily, another bed switch. Matching Blake with Siobhan, Jakub and Noah, Emily and Cass, and Sophie with Lucas. Noah had opened his mouth to say something but took one look at Emily, who was glaring at him, and resignedly accepted Jakub as his bedmate. 

As Emily and Cass curled up in their bed, Emily squeezed Cass’s hand under the covers. “Maybe,” she whispered, “you should talk to him?”

“Mmm no,” Cass shot the idea down quickly. “I spent the last few years of my life either being someone’s girlfriend that is being cheated on or being the other woman, I haven’t quite figured out the timeline. I’m not doing it again. I want someone to pick me first.”

“There’s still time to give Lucas a shot.”

“No,” Cass declined, “I think this was a quick distraction from my real life but I will go back to reality tomorrow and call my therapist so we can discuss why I continue to ignore the signs of emotionally unavailable men.”

“But he does like you.”

“He likes Hope-“

Emily groaned, “I meant Lucas. He even mentioned it to Blake when he was breaking up with her.”

“Can we call it a break up?’ 

“You know what I mean,” she whispered back.

“I don’t want Lucas to be my second choice, or anyone’s second choice. If I suddenly pivot to throwing myself at him, it would be so transparent that it was whatever this was turned out to be nothing. I wouldn’t do that to him.”

Emily smacked her lips together, “Wow.”

“What?”

“You really didn’t come on the show for the instagram followers. I’m impressed.” She yawned. “Alright, I’m going to get my beauty sleep before the big axing tomorrow. Should I wear my short dress or my criminally short dress? You only get one shot to make a last impression.”

Cass quietly laughed before starting her nightly routine of staring up at the ceiling. She calculated it to be about two hours before she slipped from under the covers and made her way upstairs and out to the balcony with a blanket. She lay down on the cushions and looked at the sky, trying to visualize herself on a plane the next day. If she didn’t already suffer from insomnia, the emotional debates she was having inside her head on the validity of falling in like with Noah in two days would be enough to keep her up for weeks. 

“I thought I’d find you up here.” 


	12. Chapter 12

Cass pushed herself up on her elbows and watched as Noah tentatively stepped past the door and out on to the balcony. “Do you mind?” he asked, pointing to the other side of the bench. 

She shook her head, sitting up right and tugging her knees close to her body. Cass was tempted to place her feet down, stand up and yawn obnoxiously and declare her insomnia cured. She would head back to bed and continue to avoid Noah until she was leaving the villa. Something kept her glued to the seat, watching him curiously as he settled down at the other side of the balcony. Perhaps it was the knowledge that he waited up for two or more hours to have a conversation with her or maybe it was that she was a sucker. Perhaps it was both. 

“Cass,” he said her name while breathing out, his frustrations with her pouring out through the one syllable. The way he sighed it out made it sound like it was her, not him, that was in the wrong.

She looked away, trying to feign disinterest. They were just two people, in a villa, on the same balcony. She told herself that she owed him nothing and consequently, she would have to admit to herself, he owed her nothing as well.

“Cass,” Noah repeated. She glanced over. “Can we talk? Or can I at least try to explain myself? I don’t know how much you overheard.”

Cass rolled her shoulders, “I would say that I heard enough, Noah.”

“It’s not fair, though,” he sighed. “Talking to a mate versus talking to you, it’s going to come out differently.”

“Ah,” Cass laughed, “you want to repeat the same message to me but soften the blow? I got you. Sure, then, stage is yours.” 

“That is not-“ he cut himself off as he dragged his hand over his head. “This is a conversation I wanted to have with you first and then Bobby cornered me in the bedroom to see where my head was at and things came out wrong. You overheard things that weren’t even fully formed thoughts.”

Her forehead wrinkled as she turned her body to face him. “What does that even mean, Noah?”

“Look,” he said, moving closer to her. His knees pressed into his thighs and he leaned forward, his chin resting on his fingertips. “I came into Casa Amor with no intention of meeting anyone because I really like Hope. I do,” he said again, almost trying to convince himself, “despite maybe how I’ve come across. And, I don’t know how much you saw of it, but I recognize that our relationship is not perfect and lately we might have had more down than ups- but I still respect her and like her.”

Cass took a sharp breath in causing Noah to stop what he was saying and look at her. “Sorry, I’m listening and taking it all in. Please keep going.” 

“And what is the consequence of that, at least where this show is concerned, is that I don’t want to blindside her. I already hurt her enough.” 

“This just sounds like what I’ve already heard, Noah. Just longer winded, mate.”

Noah closed his eyes, “I’m trying, Cass. I’m not great at expressing at this- talking about my feelings is not one of my greatest strengths.”

Cass softened a bit, as she heard Noah’s voice crack. “Sorry, I’m not making this any easier on you, am I?”

Noah met her eyes and gave her a lopsided smile, “No, but that’s completely your right. I know I’ve upset you.” He looked over the balcony at the sky, “This is a crazy place, Cass. I didn’t think staying loyal would be a problem, honestly. Every girl they’ve brought in, while lovely, has not been my type.” He looked back at her, “And not having anyone to tempt me meant that I spent all my time with Hope and got to know her and developed real feelings for her. And then I saw you.” Cass felt her body react to the statement as her cheeks flushed and she was glad for the darkness. “And I thought, the producers have done it. They waited for Casa to send in my type on paper and suddenly I get why people have their heads turned.”

“You’re just saying that,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood. “You didn’t even talk to me the first day.”

“I figured that was the safest way to not get myself into any trouble. And instead, it brought me to this.” 

“And what is this?”

“This is,” he paused, chewing on his bottom lip. “a dilemma. I would feel like the biggest asshole if I walked in with someone and couldn’t give Hope a warning about it. It’s one thing when the head turning happens in front of the person and they know about it, but I don’t want to blindside her.”

Cass huffed, “That’s what Casa Amor is, babe.”

“I know what it is, I just- with Hope, she seems like she is tough and headstrong but she just has a hard shell. I don’t want to crack her open while the country watches.”

“So that leaves me where?”

“Well,” he said, letting out a deep sigh. “I would also feel like the biggest asshole if I walked away from you.”

Cass’s stomach hitched as she turned her head away from him. This conversations had all the makings of the one she overheard, but she could see now how saying it to Bobby and explaining it to her would come off differently. Sure, in some ways, it was softening the blow of the fact that one of the options is not picking her- but seeing his brow furrowed as he tried to work it out in front of her made her sympathize with his plight. 

“Cass,” he said, his voice soft. She felt a light touch on her leg and turned her head back to look at him, seeing his fingers lightly dancing on her knee. “I know it can’t be easy to hear this, but I wanted you to hear it from me- not through some door way conversation. I would never have you stand up there and not know your fate.”

“And what is my fate?” she asked.

Noah took a deep breath in through his nose, “I don’t know.”

Cass let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding and wiped his hand away from her leg, “Then I’ll decide for you. Don’t call my name out tomorrow. Let me go home.”

“But-“

“I listened to you, now listen to me. I get it, I really do. I get that you have a connection with Hope and I appreciate that you don’t want to hurt her. You are trying to do the right thing,” she was talking fast, trying to get out all of her words before she changed her mind. “But for me, it doesn’t seem like you are worried about my feelings.”

“What?”

“You said your dilemma was between looking like an asshole for walking away or looking like an asshole for hurting Hope. But no where did you talk about if you walk away from this, how it might hurt me. How all your concerns for Hope are just as valid for me and this,” she motioned between them. “I know we’ve only known each other for a fraction of the time of you and Hope, and I get why you care about her feelings… but it seems like the only two people you are considering in your dilemma are yourself and Hope.

Noah opened his mouth, gaping at her for a second. He gave his head a small shake, like he was stunned by what she was saying. “That’s not what I meant, Cass.”

“What you didn’t say said a lot more than what you did say, Noah.”

“I do care about your feelings. I wouldn’t be in this situation if I didn’t.”

Cass patted his knee, “But you don’t care enough.”

Noah took her wrist in his hand, holding it between them. “That’s not fair, Cass. I want to choose you-“

“But you’re not going to,” Cass said, standing up and gently tugging her arm from his hand. “You think being a stand up guy means going back to Hope. I can tell. You think you can live with being the asshole who walked away from whatever this is.”

Noah stood, reaching for her hand again. “Can we talk more?”

“I’m releasing you of your dilemma,” she said, pulling back from him. “I’m making the choice. You don’t get to decide anymore. I don’t want you to pick me tomorrow. No hard feelings.” 

Noah looked like he was going to make a move, but instead resigned himself to sitting back down on the balcony with his head in his hands. Cass slipped through the glass door quietly and made her way back downstairs and climbed back into bed next to Emily. She closed her eyes, seeing the outline of Noah’s body as he slunk back down on to the bench as she tried to get to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to leave this untouched for this long, so sorry to anyone who was possibly waiting


	13. Chapter 13

“I brought you a cuppa,” Bobby extended his arm to give Cass a mug. 

Cass smiled up at him. She was curled into a ball on a lounge chair near the pool and the scene reminded her of her first morning there. Bobby had been the one to reach out then, too. “Thanks, Bobby,” she said, sitting up in the chair and blowing on the steam that emitted from the mug. “Our last cuppa in the villa.”

“Ah, lass,” he said, brushing away a fake tear. “Don’t make me sad like that.”

Cass shook her head, “It’s not sad. It was a good time and now it’s coming to an end.”

“I just don’t think this is the way you are meant to go, Cass,” Bobby lamented, as his phone beeped. “I got a text,” he told her, looking around to see if anyone else had emerged from the bedroom yet. “I don’t think I need to shout this one, though, might just be for me and you. Maybe they’re all reading it in there.”

Bobby squinted at his phone and chucked, “A goodbye brunch. It says to get ready for one last meal with the islanders, hashtag service with a smile, hashtag brunch on us.”

“Do you think you’ll have to lay there with food on you? Brunch on you?”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Bobby winked as he hopped to his feet. He held out his hand, pulling her up. “What if I was covered in sushi?”

She pretended to gag.

Bobby looked offended, “I’m that repulsive to you, love?”

“Sushi, for brunch? They better not be serving us sushi for brunch.”

Bobby wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked back to the villa, “Imagine if they did a little breakfast sushi roll. Some eggs, some bacon-“

“That’s disgusting. I’m not going to imagine my breakfast with seaweed and rice.”

Bobby scoffed, “Have a little imagination.” 

They got to the villa and Bobby squeezed her shoulder, “Head up, love. I know it’s been a rough one for you, but we’ll get through it.”

* * *

The boys were dressed in ridiculous outfits, Cass noticed as the girls and her jogged outside in their bikinis. The boys were all shirtless with a mock collar and tight black speedos, looking like strippers you would order for a hen’s night. Cass held on to Emily’s hand tightly as they walked to where the guys were standing, behind the boys was a spread of all the brunch food Cass could possibly imagine. She looked at the lads, making sure not to look away as her eyes roamed over Noah’s impossibly handsome’s face. He tried to smile at her, or that’s how she was choosing to interpret his mouth as her eyes moved over to Gary and then to Ibrahim. 

“Ladies,” Gary said, stepping forward and giving a small bow, “we are here to serve you today as it is your last meal with us. Pick a brunch date and we will bring you everything you need for the best last meal that we can provide.”

Rahim cleared his throat, “Last meal for some of you.” The boys all looked at Rahim who was looking at Shannon. Cass watched as Gary elbowed Rahim. “What?” Rahim asked, before looking at the girls. “Oh. Uh. I mean, hopefully not the last meal for some of you."

“Yeah, mate,” Gary said, rubbing his hands together. “Whatever you say. I’m hungry. Ladies, the choice is yours. Choose wisely, but also choose quickly- no one likes cold eggs.”

The girls grouped together, all of them looking at Cass.

“What?” she asked, folding her arms against her.

“Well,” Shannon said, “I think we all think you should have your pick of the lads for who you want to have the breakfast with.”

Emily nodded, looking from their huddle to the guys, “I agree. Given your situation, I think you should get to choose who gets to serve you.”

Cass smiled at them, pressing her forehead against Emily’s shoulder. “That’s really sweet, girls, but I don’t need to pick first.”

“Well,” Emily said, “someone has to. Might as well be you.”

Cass looked back at the boys, trying to think of who she would have the best time with at breakfast. She had spent enough time with Bobby to know he was a sure bet, but she still had regrets about her quick pivot to Noah when Lucas had been there flirting with her. “I’ll eat with Lucas,” she said, nodding definitively. “He’ll be a laugh over brunch.”

Blake dramatically rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll take Noah.”

As the rest of the ladies decided on who they were going to breakfast with (Shannon looking pleased as she took Rahim’s hand and practically dragged him to their table), Cass got settled at the table set for her and Lucas as Lucas gathered a spread from the buffet table. He came back with two full places, placed them down in front of her and then went back for a third plate and two cups of tea. He was balancing them triumphantly as he carefully walked back to the table. 

“I didn’t realize you had a talent for being a server,” Cass said, as Lucas sat down with a triumphant smile on his face.

Lucas grabbed a bite of eggs and nodded, “I did a week at a family member’s restaurant once. I learned the art of the balance but I was not exactly the waiter that anyone would request. I think we both mutually agreed that there were better jobs out there for me.”

“I can’t picture you doing anything like that,” she said truthfully as she spooned some eggs on to her plate, a couple of pieces of bacon and a scone.

Lucas smirked, “No one really can. My parents are well off, but they both worked for it. They wanted to instill that attitude in me young.”

“It seemed to have worked,” she observed.

“I like what I do, it makes it easier.” He looked around at the other tables, “I have to admit, I am surprised you picked me. I figured you weren’t about to pick Noah, after the cold shoulder you were giving him last night, but I thought Bobby would be first in line.”

Cass waved her hand in front of her face, “Please, I spend enough time with that boy.”

“Even so,” Lucas said, taking a sip of his tea. “It’s the last meal of the Casa Amor experience.”

Her head bobbed in agreement. “That is true, which is partly why I wanted to spend it with you. I feel like we didn’t get enough time in here, even as friends. I know I made the choices I did and you…”

“I went along with the choices someone made for me,” he gave her.

“Exactly,” she said, pointing at him and winking. “But I felt like we got along really well and I thought it was a good choice.”

“Well,” Lucas said, puffing up his chest. “I’m glad you picked me.”

“Are you?” she said. “You weren’t hoping to rekindle it with Blake?”

Lucas dropped his head, shaking it sadly. “I wish I was a stronger man to say no. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.” He looked up slowly, “She really is lovely, just not my type.”

“And what is Lucas Koh’s type?”

“Apparently,” he said, turning to look where Noah and Blake were sitting, "girls who like Noah?”

Cass rolled her eyes, “That’s not a type.”

“Sure,” he agreed, “but it is a trend. There is Hope, Priya, and now you. Certainly we can agree to call it a pattern.” 

“The pattern is liking silly girls who like the chase rather than the sure thing,” Cass replied.

Lucas sighed, “I am not a sure thing.”

“It’s not an insult,” she reassured him. Cass reached across the table and placed her hand on the back of his, patting it comfortingly. “You are confident and you say what you want and people know where your heads at. You’re going for girls who think thats what they want and then go for the bloke who enjoys mind games.” 

Lucas pulled his hand back slowly, “Well, I hope you find what you are looking for out there.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you reckon he’ll tell her?” Lucas said, nodding his head in the direction of Noah.

Cass shrugged, “I don’t know, honestly. I thought about that last night when I couldn’t sleep. Once I leave, will anyone tell Hope?” 

“I think Bobby learned his interference lesson with Priya,” Lucas told her, “and Gary might tell Lottie but won’t want the drama. Rahim has no idea anything has even occurred. Jakub- he’s a wild card. I think he will keep anything under wraps because he thinks he has a real chance with Hope and Noah could use the Emily and Siobhan situation against him.”

“And you?”

Lucas took a deep breath in, “I should tell her. I respect Hope and I like Hope, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m only telling her because I like her. Or as a way to get back for Noah for something.”

“Well,” Cass said, her fingers curling around the mug, “for what it is worth, I think the only one who has any obligation to say anything to Hope is Noah and I think he would rather keep calm and carry on than try and ruffle feathers.”

“I got a text!” Gary yelled out before Lucas could respond. “Boys, say goodbye to the girls until tonight where you will choose if you want to bring a new girl in or stick with your original partner. #Casaisoverparty #VillaReunion.”

There were audible groans from the girls as they all got up to say their goodbyes. 

Cass and Lucas stood across from each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move before Cass finally stepped into him and hugged him. “It was nice to meet you, Lucas,” she said, as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight into him. “I hope they send in the perfect girl for you.”

Lucas kissed the top of her head before they went on to say goodbyes to the others. Cass said a quick goodbye to Jakub, who looked stunned that the experience was over without one last night to try to bed one of the Casa girls, and then to Rahim who was holding tightly on to Shannon’s hand. Her and Gary laughed one last time about his crane as they hugged and then it was down to the last two. 

She paused before looking between Noah and Bobby, deciding to get the easier goodbye out of the way first. “Noah,” she said, putting a smile on her face as she skipped over to where he was standing. She held her arms out to hug him and he gave her a quick squeeze. Neither of them said anything else as she moved on to Bobby.

“Wow,” Bobby said into her ear as he pulled her into him and lifted her from the ground. “That was cold.”

“Might as well end like we began,” she said, burying her face into his shoulder.

“Are you crying, lass?” Bobby asked, pulling back and looking at her. He wiped a tear from her eye. “Don’t cry, Cass.”

“I’m just,” she said, looking around, “I’m going to miss this, weirdly. I know I complained a lot but I had a great time. Mostly because of you, Bobby.” She tried to wipe under her eyes quickly in an attempt to catch all the tears that were escaping her eyes. “When you’re all famous when you come out the winner of Love Island, make sure you don’t forget about me, yeah?”

“I could never,” he said, pulling her back to him for another hug. “And I have a feeling I’ll see you sooner than later.” Bobby pulled away and winked at her, walking to gather the lads.

Cass looked back at him, “Bobby, what does that mean?”

Bobby just winked as he and the other boys waved their goodbyes as they walked into the villa.


	14. Chapter 14

Cass stood, her chin to her chest, as the guys walked out to stand in front of the Casa Amor girls. On her right side, she held Emily’s hand tightly- they gave each other a squeeze every now and then as they waited. On her left side, Shannon loosely hung on to Cass’s fingers. She was clearly ready to bolt from the line up as soon as it was Rahim’s turn to give a speech.

“He looks like absolute shit,” Emily whispered to Cass as Cass lifted her head to look at the line up. To Emily’s credit, she wasn’t lying. Noah was shuffling his weight from foot to foot as the boys waited for their phones to buzz with a text to get them started. “Absolute shit,” she repeated, making Cass laugh. “Can’t believe you ever went for that mug.”

“Emily,” Cass said, her head shaking as she tried to control her laughter. “We’re meant to be serious.”

And it was serious, Cass felt. Her heart was still pounding against her chest. Despite what she knew was going to happen, there was still a small (actually, rather large) part of her that was hoping that Noah would say her name when it was his turn. She wasn’t proud of it- Cass hadn’t even voiced the hope to anyone while they got ready earlier.

And while she knew better than to rely on hope, the slight chance that he could still surprise her made her stomach do flips. The what ifs raced through her head. What if the distance from her today made him realize that he didn’t want to be without her. What if he wanted a better ending. What if- she shook her head trying to erase her thoughts from her mind. He wasn’t going to bring her back, she knew better than to let the hope run wild. Noah had shown that his loyalty to trying to do the right thing which, in his mind, meant being blindly loyal to Hope was unconquerable. It worried her though that despite that, she still wanted him. 

“I guess I’m first,” Gary said, waving his phone slightly in the air. 

He stepped forward, clapping his hands and then rubbing them together. “Ladies, it has been lovely getting to know each and every one of you. You have made these last couple of days a blast and if I were a single man, I would try to finagle the system to get every one of you brought back to the villa to stay. However, I think that I've found something in my time in the villa that is incomparable. She might drive me mad but I can’t imagine life inside this villa without her by my side. So tonight I am choosing to not recouple with one of you and stick with Lottie.” Lucas cleared his throat loudly. “I mean Chelsea. I am sticking with Chelsea.”

Gary stepped back, his mouth turned down into a frown. There was silence again and Cass gave Emily’s hand another squeeze. 

“I’ve got a text,” Rahim said, his voice breaking up the quiet. Rahim looked directly at Shannon and licked his lips before speaking. “When I came in here, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve not had much luck outside the villa or in the villa in love. But one girl in here has brought me out of my shell and has made me want to really try and open up. She’s loud and boisterous and sometimes bossy, which I didn’t know that I wanted until I met her, and I want to see where this goes. So tonight I am choosing to recouple with Shannon.”

Shannon dropped Cass’s fingers and stepped towards Rahim, looking back at the girls briefly before offering them a quick shrug of the shoulders. She opened her arms wide and Rahim lifted her off the ground and kissed her. 

“Well,” Emily said, turning to Cass, “she got what she wanted.”

“Can’t fault her for the effort she put in,” Cass responded. They both turned back to wait for the next phone.

Lucas stepped forward, holding his phone up. “Well,” he said, rocking back on his heels, “this has been an adventure.” His eyes darted to Cass and she smiled at him, trying to keep her emotions in check. “I came in to this hoping that I could find someone to bring back. My time in the villa has not been easy, but it has taught me a lot. One of the things it has taught me is that friendship,” he stepped back and clasped Bobby’s shoulder, “can’t be underestimated. Before we got here, I had done a selfish, stupid thing. I separated Bobby from someone he has a true connection with. I would be a fool to think I know how anything is going to work in here but I know that if I am the reason Catherine could go home, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. For that reason, I need to recouple with Catherine and get Bobby back to his woman. I’ve had a lovely time with all of you ladies and I hope to see you outside of the villa.”

Cass was happy to have one of her hands free as she wiped away a tear. She watched as Bobby stepped forward and embraced Lucas, his fist thumping off of Lucas’s back. As they stepped away, Cass watched as Bobby also reached up to wipe at his eyes. 

“Ay,” Bobby said, laughing, “I’m not crying. I’ve just got something in my eye.”

Emily squeezed Cass’s hand, “I reckon he would have picked you if he wasn’t with Bobby’s girl."

“He deserves better than little old me,” Cass smiled, squeezing back. 

Noah stepped forward. “I guess it’s my turn,” he said, holding his phone up and giving it a little shake. “I had a speech prepared, but now that I am trying to remember it- my mind has gone blank.”

Gary cheered him on from the line up, “You’ve got it, mate!”

“Yeah, well, thanks,” Noah said, his lips twitching up into a smile. “I’m not really sure what to say. I thought, when this all started, this would be easy. I would come in, have a laugh with my mates and that be all. However this experience, despite it being short, has truly changed me and my perspective about everything. I met someone unexpected,” he said, his head turning to look at Cass, “who made me question everything I believed to be true. I thought I was a man who knew what he wanted and I realized that I am just as confused as everyone else.”

Cass’s chest swelled. She rolled her shoulders backwards and tried to stand up straight. Emily shuffled closer to her, wrapping her arm around Cass’s waist. Cass tried to keep her face neutral as she listened as Noah continued to speak. 

“I met someone in here who challenged me, who could make me laugh, who was open and vulnerable and let me be me in the most authentic way possible. She deserves more than what I can give her and I hope she finds it one day.”

Her heart sunk and she could feel Emily’s fingers digging into her side. There it was, the pivot. While Cass knew this was the most likely outcome, it still hurt more now that it was real. 

Noah’s fingers twitched at his side as he opened his mouth to speak again, “She deserves someone who can give her his all at all times and right now, there is someone that also deserves more from me. Unfortunately, I had to make a choice tonight and I know neither of them are easy or right, but I felt that it was important to give Hope the respect that she deserves. So, I will not be recouping tonight and I will be sticking in my couple with Priya.”

Cass clenched her jaw and tried to make lips form into a smile. Noah’s head dropped, breaking eye contact with her, as he stepped back. Ibrahim leaned in closer to Noah, giving him a pat on the back.

Emily leaned her forehead onto Cass’s shoulder, “You can do better, babe.”

“We both can,” Cass said as Jakub stepped forward. 

“I thought this was going to be Jakub’s Angels,” Jakub said, puffing his chest out. “It has turned into a remake where Jakub doesn’t have any angels. It’s alright though, Jakub still has his angel Hope waiting for him tonight.”

He stepped back, smiling and looking around at the guys as though they were going to compliment him on his words.

“So,” Lucas said, his brow furrowed, “to be clear- you are sticking with Hope?”

“Yes,” he said, giving a nod. “I made that very clear.”

Bobby clapped his hand and bounced forward a step, “Guess that leaves me, doesn’t it?” He looked at all of the ladies, smiling, but as Cass watched him she noticed that he seemed agitated. He was bouncing on his heels, rubbing his hands against his pants and looking around. Bobby usually was a little unfocused, but Cass thought he looked as though he was about to jump out of his skin. a

“I think what this experience has shown me,” he said, turning his back on the girls as he looked at the line up of guys, “is that I’m friends with some cowards. One,” he corrected, “coward, really.” 

Cass felt her jaw drop as she quickly looked at Noah, who’s hands were forming into little balls at his sides. She looked back at Bobby and shook her head. Whatever he was about to say, she tried to telepathically message to him, was not worth it.

“I’ve watched over the last couple of days a connection bloom right in front of our eyes. One that prevented some other people to get to know this girl. One that is definitely more stable than we’ve seen from this person prior. To watch someone make a cowardly choice when the entire basis of what we are doing is supposed to be about love-” he took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. 

Bobby shook his head, stepping back from the line up. “I’m sorry, I just need a second.” Bobby walked off, heading towards the beach hut. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do. 

“Can he do that?" Jakub asked, scratching his head as they watched the Scottish lad disappear into the beach hut.

“The most dramatic episode ever,” Gary said, laughing. Everyone stared at him. “What? I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Noah, man,” he looked over, “you good?”

Noah nodded silently. 

The islanders stood there for another minute, all trying to work out what was happening before Bobby reemerged. He had a smile on his face as he joined the boys again. “Sorry, sorry,” Bobby said, winking at the girls. “Just needed a small break. Shall we continue?”

“Just like that?” Rahim asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yep,” Bobby said, cheerfully. “Everything is sorted. Now,” he said, turning towards the line of remaining girls, “let’s start from the top.”

“Not again,” Noah said, rubbing his brow. “We get it, you think I’m an idiot.”

“Yes, but that’s not where I want to start from. What I want to say is about me. When I found out we were going to have a Casa Amor, I truly didn’t expect to find anything. Instead, I found someone who I see myself being friends with for a long time outside of this experience. To that effect, and to add on to Lucas’s speech earlier, I’ve realized that while it is called Love Island- we should not discount the love that we cultivate in here as friends.”

“What is he saying?” Emily muttered.

Cass shrugged, also trying to figure out what Bobby was doing or saying, especially given the turn from the first part of his speech. 

“I would be remiss if I didn’t give this lass a chance to find a real bond inside the villa. I think that her experience would have been cut way too short if she is not brought back with us, and I think my experience would be missing something without her. So, let me rename the show to Friendship Island for a night because I want to recouple with Cass.”


	15. Chapter 15

“Bobby, what were you thinking?” Cass asked, as they waited in the bedroom to be revealed to the girls of the villa. “Why?” 

It was the first time since the recouping that Cass and Bobby had a moment to speak. After Bobby had said her name, it had been a rush of goodbyes to the Casa girls (she might have even felt a tear drop as she hugged Emily) and then the producers separated them. Her and Shannon sat in silence as they waited… and waited… and waited, discouraged from speaking until the cameras were rolling.

“Cass,” Bobby said, his eyes twinkling, “my master plan will soon to be revealed.”

Cass whacked his chest with the back of her hand, “I am not a pawn in whatever game you are playing.” She glanced down the line to where Noah was. He was staring at a wall, refusing to look around or join in the jocular tone of some of the other guys. “I didn’t ask you to bring me back.”

Bobby clasped her shoulder and squeezed it, “Come on, babe, it will all be okay. You just gotta trust the process.”

“There is no process,” she hissed. “You went rogue. You are just trying to get back at Noah for God knows what-“

Bobby turned to her, his eyes drilling into her. “This,” he said, motioning around them, “has nothing to do with Noah. I think that you have unfinished business and deserve a real chance at finding something. That dingbat almost ruined it for you, and I wasn’t going to let you walk out of here with him being your only story to tell your friends.”

She sighed. “I was looking forward to my own bed and my mum’s cooking-“

“And,” he continued, “do you really want your ex to see you get dumped so unceremoniously from the island? A footnote in this season’s Wikipedia page? C’mon love,” he said, resting his arm on top of her shoulder, “you’re better than that.”

Their hushed conversation was interrupted by a producer shooing out Rahim and Shannon. 

“What are we going to tell Catherine?”

“Let me worry about that,” Bobby said, his smile unfaltering. “You don’t know her but believe me, she’ll understand.”

“Bobby,” Cass said, her brow lowering, “you need to understand- I am not Operation Nope 2.0. I am not-“

Bobby shook his head, taking a deep breath in. “Cassandra, my girl, my darling friend, you need to understand that if I wanted to bring someone back for Operation Nope 2.0, I could have easily brought Blake. You are here because you are my friend and because I care about you. Now,” he said, “do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then stop worrying, Cass. It will all work out.”

“Bobby, Cassandra,” a producer waved them over, she looked frustrated. “Can you hold hands or something? Make it a little more dramatic for the islanders?”

Bobby looped his arm in with Cassandra’s and they started the walk out into the villa. “Now,” he said, whispering in his ear as they got closer, “don’t let Lottie intimidate you. She’ll go on and on about girl code and how could you’s, just know she means well.”

Cass’s head bobbed slightly in acknowledgement of what he said as they turned the corner and could see the other islanders. She squinted to see Lucas’s head turn into Catherine’s, who looked absolutely gutted at this development. She looked around the semi-circle around the fire, not one of the original villa girls looked happy to see her.

Could she really blame them?

“Hi, everyone!” Bobby said as cheerful as he could. “Marisol, I see you found someone,” he gave her a thumbs up and Marisol blushed scarlet. “I want to introduce you all to Cassandra, and hopefully you all can understand why I had to do what I did and be kind to her.” As he said this, Cassandra watched as he looked straight to Lottie who was muttering into Hope’s ear. “Lottie, I mean it. Be kind.” Lottie grunted in response. 

Cass awkwardly gave a small wave as they sat down. Lucas turned to her, his hand squeezing her knee, “Don’t fret, Cass.”

She nodded, wordlessly. It was easy for him to say, she thought. She turned to Bobby and said underneath her breath, “This is going well.”

Cass watched as Priya stood, her arm looped with a boy with blueish hair. 

“Good for her,” Bobby elbowed Cass, pointing at Priya. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Cass watched Lottie clasp onto Hope’s hand as they waited for Noah to arrive. He half-jogged as he took the corner and his face strained into a smile as his eyes darted first to Cass and then to Hope, who sat there looking relieved. 

“Oh,” Noah said, his lips making a half grin, “and who is this?”

“Felix,” Priya beamed at him. “He’s offered to worship me and how can I resist?”

“How could I expect you to?” Noah said, his hands rubbing against his pants. “Hope,” he said, turning to the stunning girl who was grinning up at him. “Nice to see you again.”

Cass’s stomach clenched as she took ahold Bobby’s hand. 

“Fake fuck,” Bobby’s lips brushed against her ear. “Don’t let it get to you.”

“Well,” Marisol said, standing, “that’s everyone.” She took the man’s hand she was with and led him away from the circle. They could hear her huffing angrily as she walked away, “What if I didn’t find anyone? What if I was dumped right then?” 

The islanders looked around as though waiting for further instruction. When none came, they all awkwardly stood, and those who had been in the villa before started to greet each other. 

“Cat,” Cass could hear Bobby say as he found his former match, “can we talk?”

Catherine shrugged but let herself be led away by the Scot. 

Soon, Cass was sitting alone near the fire. She was holding out her hands to the flames, trying to stay warm as she thought about her next plans of action. Obviously, Bobby and Catherine were going to recouple. And based on Hope’s facial expressions as she pulled Noah away from the group, there was not going to be any wiggle room there either. Did Bobby just bring her back to be dumped just a day later, she asked herself.

“Cass, right?” 

Cass looked up and saw Lottie with Chelsea and Marisol. Cass closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose before she looked up, “Yes.”

“I don’t know what you did in Casa Amor,” Lottie said, her face scrunching up in disgust, “but just so you are aware, we stick with our girls here and Catherine has our loyalty. Why Bobby thought to-“

They were interrupted as Lucas, Catherine and Bobby joined them. Catherine and Bobby, their hands enclasped, stopped and stood with the three Villa girls. Lottie’s jaw dropped, taking in the hand holding and then watched as Lucas continued to walk over to Cass.

Cass looked up at him, her eyebrows pushed together as she tried to figure out what was happening. He leaned down to her and kissed her, his hands pressing against her head as she stood and pressed herself into Lucas and into the kiss. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she couldn’t deny that Lucas Koh was a good kisser.

Lucas pulled back giving her a sly wink before snaking his arm around her waist. “What were you saying, Lottie?” he asked, kissing Cass’s forehead. 

Lottie looked at Lucas and Cass and then at Bobby and Catherine. “I was just-“

Catherine cut through the tension, “Cass, I’m so sorry. Lottie was just looking out for me. Bobby tells me you are a lovely girl.” Her voice was soft and sweet, and while Cass was sure that wasn’t what Bobby fell for- Cass wouldn’t mind listening to an audiobook narrated by Catherine to fall asleep to. “Lottie,” Catherine turned to the other three girls, “don’t worry. Lucas and Bobby just were making sure everyone they cared about was safe.”

“Not me,” Marisol grumbled. 

Bobby laughed, a full bellied laugh. “You brought back a fisherman and you’re mad at me?”

Marisol’s face remained scrunched before letting out a small giggle. “I don’t know, I just thought you would remain loyal.”

“I did,” he said, pressing his lips against Catherine’s temple. 

Lucas squeezed Cass’s hip. “Now,” he said, “I expect everyone to be nice to Cass. She means a lot to us.”

Cass smiled, her head tilted up to look at Lucas. Even if this was just pretend, she couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that Lucas put himself in the line of fire so that she wouldn’t get run over by the Villa girls. After all, she thought, if they knew what actually happened, it would probably be much, much worse. 

Out of the corner of Cass’s eye, she watched as Hope and Noah reemerged. Hope was pulling Noah to the fire and Cass instinctively turned to look at Bobby. Instead, she met Catherine’s eyes. Catherine turned her head to see where Cass had been looking. “Cass,” Catherine said, cheerfully. “Do you want to catch up? Bobby said we have a lot in common.”

Cass smiled gratefully as she stepped away from Lucas and towards Catherine. Catherine took her hand and squeezed, resting her head against Cass’s shoulder as they walked away. “Bobby told me everything,” she said, quietly. “Well, as much as he could in as quick of a time as he could. He thought that there might be some trouble brewing if we took too long.”

The two of them found a quiet spot to sit and Cass let out a breath, feeling her shoulder lighten from the stress she was holding in. “Bobby was an angel,” she stated.

Catherine waved her hand in front of her, “I know.” She let out a half sigh, half laugh. “Lucas tried to whisper in my ear as you walked out. He tried to say it wasn’t what I thought- I didn’t think of it at all, honestly. I didn’t even really think there was a chance. For a second, a split second, when I saw you, I thought maybe I was wrong. And then that stupid baker boy looked at me and I knew everything was okay.” She shook her head, “Isn’t that silly? We’ve known each other for two weeks and I’m already mooning over him.”

“It's not,” Cass said, leaning back into her chair. “This place does things to you.”

“So,” Catherine said, leaning forward, her elbows on her knees. “Tell me about Noah.”

“There’s not anything to tell. It’s over.”

Catherine shrugged, “That boy.”

“That boy,” Cass repeated.

“I watched him with Priya. He liked her, or at least liked flirting with her. And then Hope will be there and he’ll lose his will to change his mind.”

“He thinks he’s doing what’s right.”

“That boy,” Catherine said, again. “He’s sweet and he means well, but I worry about him.” Cass made a face. “Honestly,” Catherine said, reaching out and pressing her hand against Cass’s knee. “I don’t know if he knows how to be in a healthy relationship. And Hope,” she put her hands against her chest, “she is honestly a complete love, but she doesn’t want to admit that her instincts were off. I truly think that deep down, they both recognize it’s not right. It’s just that neither of them want to pull the plug.”

Cass shrugged, making a face as she let her shoulders fall. Laughter from somewhere on the grounds carried to them and they both looked around. “At least someone is having a good time.”

Catherine stuck out her tongue, “Don’t let one boy ruin your time. What about Lucas? That kiss,” she fanned herself. “If I didn’t know it was supposed to be fake, I would not believe it was.”

“He’s sweet but he deserves to be someone's first choice.”

Catherine chuckled, “You are still thinking in the terms of the real world. This is Love Island. First choices and second choices mean nothing. If you like him, go for it. You deserve to be someone’s first choice, too.”

* * *

Cass stood at the sink, examining her reflection as she brushed her teeth. Her under eye bags were… pronounced, to say the least, a result, she thought, of both the stress of Love Island and the non sleep she was getting. She heard a knock on the door and turned to see Noah standing in the doorframe.

“Hey,” he said, sheepishly holding up his hand in greeting. “Do you?” he asked, motioning to the sink. “Do you mind?” he clarified.

Cass raised one shoulder up in response, letting him interpret the non-verbal communication. She wasn’t sure if she did or did not mind, so letting him make the choice for both of them seemed to be the easiest.

Noah took a hesitant step in before committing to the act and standing next to her. He reached in front of her to grab his toothbrush and turned on the sink. The silence between them was excruciating but Cass continued to move her toothbrush around. She could hear him gulp. Noah turned the sink back off and started to brush his teeth.

They stood there for a moment, the only sounds were their brushes against their teeth. Cass kept her eyes trained on the mirror but found her gaze wandering in the glass, moving from her features (were her cheeks looking sunken or was that the lighting?) to Noah’s. 

Noah spit and then turned slightly to her, “Cass.”

Cass shook her head.

“Cass,” he repeated, “I’m sorry.” 

Cass spit out the toothpaste and rinsed her brush. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“But you have to know,” he said, he looked in pain as he spoke. “I am so sorry for everything. For yesterday, for now. God,” he said, tapping his toothbrush against the sink. “I did not expect this.”

“Noah,” Cass said, her voice low as she was still aware of anyone being able to walk in on them, “I don’t want to hear your apologies if they are going to be empty words. We can coexist in this house but, given that you and Hope looked pretty cozy earlier, I don’t want anything more.”

Cass placed her toothbrush back in it’s holder and placed it with her bathroom stuff and headed for the door. 

Noah looked like he wanted to say something, opening his mouth a couple of times before putting the toothbrush back in his mouth and turning away from her. 

* * *

It worked out that Cass and Bobby were placed between the bed of Lucas and Catherine and Lottie and Noah (who, as the singles in the house, were together). Bobby took the side facing Catherine and when he realized what he had done, as Noah got settled in his bed, started to quietly apologize to Cass. Cass waved him off. However, as Cass tried to close her eyes and will sleep to come to her, her only thoughts was the proximity of Noah to her and how much it killed her that she still cared.


	16. Chapter 16

Lucas approached Cass armed with two steaming mugs of tea. He handed one over to her as he took the other side of the daybed. “Did you sleep out here?”

“Thanks,” she smiled at him before taking a sip. “God, no. I’m not really an outdoorsy adventure kind of girl. Being a camp counselor was as far as I got and what it taught me is that I’m not one for outdoor sleeping.”

“Me either,” Lucas agreed. “Although, Henrik got me to agree to at least one camping adventure when we’re out of here. I’m not sure how the lad did it. Maybe his long, luscious locks. They were hypnotizing.”

Cass pictured the blonde that had left the villa before she had got in. “You two seemed close,” she said, taking another sip from her mug. “Do you miss him?”

“He was my best mate in here,” Lucas told her. “I know it was such a short amount of time but Henrik’s kind of why I believe you can find love in here. Not you, specifically. I mean, not not you-“

“A general you,” she nodded, tapping on his thigh. “Go on.”

“Right, well, I’ve never had that kind of instant connection with anyone before. Friendship or else, and I think if I can make a mate for life in here- certainly there’s a chance to find love in here, too.” He raised his shoulders, rolling his eyes at himself, “It’s stupid.”

Cass blew on the steam from her mug, “It’s not.”

“Anyways,” Lucas said, leaning to his side and placing his mug down. “I wanted to have a chat with you before everyone else is up and ready, easier to say things without people trying to interrupt.”

She brought her knees up to her chest, resting her mug on her knee. “Sounds important.”

“I just wanted to figure out our plan. You can’t exactly talk about being in a fake couple around everyone you are trying to present yourself as a real couple to.”

Cass laughed, turning her head to the side to look at him. “I need to say thank you for that, by the way. You’ve definitely made it easier for me in here.”

He blushed slightly, “I couldn’t let them feed you to the wolves, Cass. We’re mates.”

“I mugged you off, you didn’t have to be nice to me.”

“Because you’re not into me, you think I should be mean?”

“Not mean, but you didn’t have to help.”

Lucas waved her off, “Stop. But, I do want to talk to you about the next couple of days at least. Figure out what we wanted to do.”

Cass turned her head so she was looking on to the backyard of the villa. She thought about the path forward. The easiest path was to pass the next couple of days pretending she was with Lucas until she eventually got voted off the island and could return to her post grad life. It wasn’t glamorous, but it would spare her the wrath of the girls for going after Noah in Casa. Another, she thought, was to be honest and come clean- at least about the Lucas part. Maybe they would send in another guy and they would hit it off, but where would that leave Lucas? And the last, the riskiest, was to be honest about the entire thing. Bring everything out in the open and see where everything landed- that one was the most scary.

“I’ll be honest,” Cass spoke after a minute, “I don’t love lying to people.”

Lucas nodded, “Right. Okay.” He tapped his hands against his legs, “Is it really lying? I know it’s not telling the truth, but who are we hurting? It’s a mutually beneficial situation where we spare you from unnecessary hate and me from- well, being the guy to all the other islanders who can’t get a girl to save his life.”

“Yes, you can,” Cass scoffed. “I think you are forgetting about Blake.”

“Wow,” he said, smiling to himself, “I did. You’re right. But, the point stands that you are in the villa and not Blake.”

“Imagine her with Lottie? Or Chelsea?”

“A bloodbath,” Lucas laughed. “Look, you tell me what you want to do- I don’t want to pressure you into anything you’re not comfortable with. If you want to be up front with everyone, I guess we could say we realized we’re not compatible?”

“No,” Cass said, making her decision. “Let’s do it.”

Lucas clapped, “Great. Ground rules.”

“Ground rules?” 

“Come on, Cass, you had to have watched or read something where the entire plot is people fake dating. You need ground rules. A list of things you can and can’t do.”

“Are you a secret romantic comedy fan, Lucas?”

“Secret? Nah, Cass, out and proud.” 

Cass’s eyes widened, “Wow, I did not see that coming.”

“I’m a man of many secrets,” he teased. “Alright, then, rule number one - don’t fall in love with me.”

Cass looked offended, “That’s a rule?”

“Well, unless you are expecting to- I don’t see how it shouldn’t be a rule. It’s always a rule in them. Don’t fall in love because the person is dying. Don’t fall in love because the person is in love with someone else. It goes on and on. It’s a good first rule.”

“And why shouldn’t I fall in love with you?” she wondered.

“Because that is too obvious.”

“Fine, but is rule 2 that you can’t fall in love with me?”

“Well, where’s the fun in that? Rule two - public affection. I realize I have already started this without talking to you about it.”

“It’s all good. I think whatever seems normal, I guess.”

Lucas nodded, pretending to write it down. “Rule number three - other people. This one is tricky, I assume that you still… want Noah?” Cass bit her cheek in response, averting Lucas’s eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes. Well,” he ran a hand through his hair, “a confession for you.”

“Go on,” she said, intrigued.

“I might have a thing for Hope. A small thing. A potential thing.”

“Lucas!” she got too excited, her tea spilling on to her stomach. It had cooled enough that it didn’t hurt but she still made a small jump in her chair from the surprise of the liquid on her bare skin. “Really?” 

Lucas looked around, making sure they were still alone. He pressed his finger against his lips, “Keep it down, Cass. You’ll wake the villa.” 

“Since when?”

“Since I got into the villa,” he replied, looking abashed. “I took her on my first date. I really thought I had a chance, too. She was flirting, we had a good time- and then when I got back, after my other date, she was with Noah like I didn’t exist. Told Catherine that she was just being polite.” 

Cass squealed, kicking her feet excitedly. “I can see it- I mean I don’t know her, but from what I’ve seen on television.”

“I just figured if you’re going for Noah-“

“No,” Cass shook her head emphatically. “I’m not.”

“I thought,” he looked confused, scratching his head. “You still want him?” he spaced out his words, as though trying to figure out the answer as he asked.

“I can want him and recognize that he’s not right for me. I am not spending any more time in my life being readily available for men who don’t make me their first choice. He made his decision by not making a decision and I need to stick by mine.” Lucas’s face fell. “What’s wrong? You can still go after Hope, you don’t need me.”

“I thought,” he frowned, “I thought this would be perfect. It seems less snakey if both of them come to the realization that there might be someone else out there for them.”

Cass sipped from her mug, “I don’t think you are trying to be a snake. Why wouldn’t you go the easy route? Tell her about… whatever happened in Casa?” 

“It’s not my place, love. Maybe it should be, someone should tell her. But it seems extra snakey if it’s me and my sole reason for doing so is so that she couples up with me. It’s not for her benefit then, is it?” 

They both looked over as they heard a door open. Bounding out the door with the energy of a puppy was Bobby who looked pleased to see Cass and Lucas on the daybed together. Behind him was a couple of the other islanders, including Noah who was, for the moment, without Hope. Noah looked over and spotted Cass, giving her a small wave. 

“I think our time to plot is over,” Lucas said, watching Noah break from the group in the kitchen and approach the daybed. “Stay strong, Cass,” he said, patting her knee as he swung his legs over and stood. “Noah.”

“Lucas,” Noah said, with a small nod. “Cass, do you mind if I pull you for a chat?” Cass looked at the empty space next to her. “Maybe somewhere.. less out in the open?” He looked around, trying to find a spot that was more private that the middle of the lawn. 

“Ah,” she said, making an amused sound, “so Hope can’t catch you?” 

He looked frustrated, “That’s not why.” He looked around again before sitting down next to her, “I guess I shouldn’t be picky if you are agreeing to chat.”

“No,” she agreed, “you shouldn’t. What do you want, Noah?” she said, exhausted already from the apology she was expecting to come out of his mouth. 

“I don’t want anything. I wanted to chat,” he said, practically whispering. Cass had to lean in closer to make out his words. “I heard you and Lucas were quite close last night.”

Cass moved away from him, narrowing her eyes, “Is that what this is about?”

“Cass, no, I thought it might be an easy opener. I know that you’re mad at me, but some of my most enjoyable moments in this villa have been chatting with you. If nothing else, I was hoping to rebuild something with you.”

Cass searched his face, trying to see if she could read anything other than sincerity. She wasn’t used to this Noah- he had the upper hand all of Casa Amor besides at the end and now he was practically begging for her mercy. “I don’t think I’m ready, Noah,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I’m not trying to hurt you, but I think we should spend time alone. You and Hope- maybe you should focus on her, you seemed to care a lot about what she would think yesterday when you made your choice.”

“You told me to pick her,” Noah argued. 

“Because you were waffling,” she said, hearing her voice whine. She took a pause, letting herself calm before continuing, “I made it easier for you.”

“Can we just not talk about the villa and the game for a moment?” Noah asked, his face scrunching up. “Can we have a normal chat?”

“Just tell me one thing, Noah,” Cass said, turning her body on her side and facing him. “What would you have done if I didn’t make your decision for you?”

Noah pressed his lips together, thinking on her question. He turned his body to his side so that they were both facing each other, “I honestly don’t know, Cass. I wish I could say with all sincerity that I would have said your name last night, but I don’t know if that’s the truth. I wanted to, even last night when I could feel your disdain for me. I still wanted to say your name.”

Cass shrugged, flipping back to her back. She closed her eyes and took pleasure in the gentle warmth of the morning sun. “Fine, we can chat.”

“Uh,” Noah sounded confused.

Cass shrugged, “You were honest.”

“Are you happy to be in here?” Noah asked.

Cass twirled a piece of her hair in thought, “I don’t know, honestly. I think it is really just delaying the inevitable. I’ll be sent home as soon as the audience has a vote. But I appreciate that Bobby was trying to do something nice.” She turned her head, lifting her hand and placing it on her brow, blocking out the sun. “I thought we weren’t talking about the game.”

“You’re right,” he said, wagging his finger at her.

“You know,” she said, clarifying, “I’m not ready to forgive you. This,” she said, gesturing between them, “is not us going back to normal.”

His head bobbed up and down, “I get it.”

“Noah?” Hope’s voice cut through their conversation and Cass watched as Noah’s body tensed up.

Noah closed his eyes before whispering an apology to her. “Over here,” he said, lifting his arm up. 

“Noah, I thought you were bringing me my coffee,” Hope said, standing over the daybed. She moved her head to look at Cass and Cass watched as Hope eyed her up and down. “Cassidy, right?”

“It’s Cassandra,” Noah corrected, surprising Cass. “She goes by Cass.”

Hope looked amused, “Of course you do.”

“Hope,” Noah scolded her.

“What? It’s just a common nickname, so it’s obviously the choice to go with,” Hope said, lightly bouncing on her toes. “Are you ready for breakfast, Noah? I wanted to catch up before Lottie’s scheduled meeting with the girls.” Hope eyed Cass. “The villa girls,” she clarified.

Cass gave her a thumbs up before closing her eyes and pretending to sunbathe. Although she knew that, in theory, Hope had every right to dislike Hope- well, in practice, Cass had given her no reason. And now that she was having her own taste of Hope’s hospitality, well, Cass actually kind of pitied her. How terrible it must be, she thought, to go through and be immediately suspicious of any girl in her guy’s life. 

“Well,” Cass said, feeling the daybed shift as Noah got up, “I’ll be here if anyone needs me.”

* * *

“Cassandra?” 

Cass opened her eyes, waking from a cat nap that she had peacefully fallen into. “Mmm?” 

“What happened in Casa?” Hope asked, her hands on her hips as she looked down at her prey. 


	17. Chapter 17

“A lot of things happened in Casa,” Cass replied, sitting up in her chair and trying to remain calm. “What exactly do you want to know?”

Cass promised herself in that moment that if Hope knew, if she had found out somehow, that Cass would not lie to her. She would not be the girl who told the other one not to worry, that their boyfriend, or whatever Noah was, was entirely faithful. She would not participate in gaslighting her. 

However, Cass reasoned, if Hope didn’t know- she wasn’t going to be the one that broke the news. She was, as Catherine told her last night a weather girl. She wasn’t the anchor on the news, she just told you what you already knew was coming- what you could feel in the air. 

“I want to hear everything Noah-“

Priya jogged up, breathless. Cass couldn’t help but admire the way that she looked like a star from Baywatch, in her one piece bathing suit- how the guys of the villa passed her over, Cass did not know. “I’m here,” Priya said, trying to catch her breath. “I’m ready for the interrogation.”

Cass smirked, “Is this a thing?”

Hope looked disgruntled that Priya was there. “Ah, yes, Priya, I forgot we were assigned to do this together.”

“I'm not surprised,” Priya said, standing up with her shoulders back and plopping herself at the end of Cass’s seat. “She loves to forget about things when it comes to me,” she mock-complained. “Like how it was me, not her, that was coupled up with Noah in Casa.”

Hope grunted, “That was a complete joke.”

“Hope, love,” Priya said, winking at Cass, “I’m just teasing you. It’s too fun seeing you get all territorial over Noah. Anyways, Cass, we didn’t really meet last night, but I’ve heard great things about you.” Priya winked conspiratorially, making Cass wonder what she had heard. “Hope and I have been tasked with-“

“We want to know what happened while we were away,” Hope interrupted, sitting down as though her and Cass were friends and about to share gossip, not interrogate Cass in the hot sun. 

Cass shrugged, “Is there anything specific you want to know or do you want me to spoil the show for you?”

“What did Noah get up to?” Hope quickly asked.

Priya playfully reached over and slapped Hope’s leg, “That is not what we are here to ask, Hope. Stay on script. You are a terrible good cop.”

“You are supposed to be good cop?” Cass asked, disbelieving. 

Priya chuckled, “She tried to call it before she zoomed away. I had to jog here and if you haven’t noticed, this bathing suit isn’t exactly supportive. It’s not meant for rigorous physical exercise.”

Hope looked annoyed, “I am good cop. Just because we were tasked with asking one thing doesn’t mean we can only ask that one thing. Right, Cass?” she said, turning her head and looking pained as she tried her best to smile at Cass. 

Maybe it was a woman’s intuition on Hope’s part but Cass could tell that Hope didn’t like her much. 

“But,” Priya said, resting her arm on Cass’s knees and then putting her chin on her arm, looking at Cass with doe eyes, “let us start with what we were meant to ask. Cass, tell us- why is there a spoon in the pool? Why didn’t anyone retrieve it?”

Hope chest rose with a deep breath and she let out an annoyed sigh, “Seriously, Priya, who gives a fuck about that?”

“The other girls did! I am just doing our job. If you wanted more gossip, you could have gone with Catherine to talk to Shannon! You volunteered for this spot.”

“Because her and Noah were out here this morning!” Hope voice got higher. She looked around, assessing if anyone else saw her outburst. “I’m sorry but I want to know what is up with that. Why is Noah visiting her when he was supposed to be getting me breakfast?” 

Priya threw her head back, her hair glistening in the sunlight, “You are obsessed.”

Cass looked nervously between the two girls, who were glaring at each other. She looked around, trying to see if anyone would come and save her but it looked like she was on her own. Hope and Priya both seemed like they were both prepared to snap if the other said another word so Cass cleared her throat, “We were playing some dumb camp games- someone got mad, the spoon went into the pool. It wasn’t a big thing.”

She could see as Hope head’s shook slightly, as though she was trying to get Pryia’s words off of her. “That’s so funny,” Hope said, her voice transforming into a cheerful tone. “We thought maybe the guys had a throwing contest.”

“Hope thought Noah would have won,” Priya muttered.

Hope glared at her before turning back to Cass, ignoring Priya’s comment. “And what about the underwear under my bed? Did-“

“Jakub,” Cass said quickly, trying to beat Hope to answer before she asked another question. “He… took advantage of the Casa situation, made some close friends.”

“Friends?” Priya squealed, sitting upright. “Plural?” She turned to Hope, “See, I told you it wasn’t Noah’s doing.”

Hope sneered, “Well, it was still my partner, I wasn’t wrong.”

“So _now_ you want to claim Jakub?” 

“You know what,” Cass said, fanning herself off, “I’ve been out here for a long time. I should get some water, reapply suncream. Do you two need anything?” 

Before either could respond, Cass maneuvered her legs out from Priya’s arms and quickly got herself off the daybed and started to walk towards the villa. She could hear Hope faintly saying her name behind her but she didn’t stop until she got to the small outdoor kitchen, unscrewing the cap on her water bottle and letting out a sound of relief as she turned on the faucet. 

“They’re wolves,” Rahim said, exiting from the villa and into the kitchen. He looked toward the daybed that Cass had come from where it looked like Priya and Hope were back to arguing. “Did you escape unscathed? We were out here when Hope circled around you, like a shark.”

“You’re mixing your metaphors, Rahim. Is she a shark or a wolf?”

“I think she’s all the deadly predators mixed into one”

Cass nodded, “Probably right.” She sat in one of the bar chairs, feeling her legs stick to the plastic. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you on your own since I got here,” she noted, looking around for Shannon to come claim her man. 

Ibrahim smiled sadly, “Yeah, I think the novelty has worn off for Shannon. I shouldn’t be surprised, it happened with Priya, too.” He looked down, awkwardly screwing the cap of his water bottle on and off. “I must not be that interesting of a chat.”

“It’s not that, I’m sure,” Cass offered. “They were talking about Catherine having a job with Shannon, she’s probably just distracted from that.”

“What are your thoughts on Shannon?” Rahim’s voice trembled slightly as he asked.

Cass glanced around before letting out a little puff of air. “Oh, it doesn’t matter what I think. It should only matter what you think.”

“But what if I thought wrong?”

Cass pulled her leg off the chair one by one, cringing as she had to pull her skin off the hot plastic. “We all make mistakes, Rahim. You just have to learn from it if you have made one. But,” she went on, “don’t jump to too many early conclusions.”

“If you are looking for Noah, he’s in the bedroom,” Rahim said, his voice lowering as Cass walked by him to the door of the villa.

Cass looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing, “I wasn’t but thank you for the information on what room to avoid.”

She pulled the door open, feeling the cool of the air conditioning hit her. She glanced toward the bedroom, still feeling sleepy from the morning sun and her interrupted nap (oh, she thought, what a joy to have gotten those minutes of rest) and wishing that the bedroom had not been occupied. Instead, she climbed the stairs and opened the door to the balcony where it was joyfully unoccupied. 

She sat in the corner seat, poking her head above the wall to spy on the going ons on the lawn. Hope and Priya were still on the daybed and Gary and Lottie were both sitting in the pool, Cass could hear faint sounds of Lottie’s laughter as Gary splashed her. Cass sunk down, trying to find the shade on the balcony as she remembered that she had forgotten the suncream.

Her phone buzzed next to her. 

Cass picked it up, opening her mouth to yell that she had a text but saw the sender was Lucas and not production. It was rare but the islanders did sometimes use their phones to text each other, careful what they said given that production had access to all the messages.

She opened the message to find a very short and to the point text from Lucas. “Where are you?” She typed back quickly her location and a request for suncream and hit send, closing her eyes again. 

Cass heard the door open and without looking, she put her hand out in anticipation of the suncream Lucas was to bring her. 

“Uh,” she heard in response and felt, instead of the suncream, a hand slip into hers. 

“Oh my god,” Cass said, opening her eyes and yanking her arm back. 

Noah looked confused, “Sorry?” 

“No,” Cass said, covering her face in embarrassment. “I thought you were Lucas. He was bringing me something.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Noah said, sitting down and looking over the edge. “Although, it looks like he got distracted. He’s sitting on the daybed with Hope.”

Cass’s eyebrows raised, “Do they look like they are having a good time?” She moved closer to Noah so that she could pop her head over again, “Is she laughing?”

Noah pulled back from the side, “Why would she be laughing?”

“Lucas can be funny. He has good banter, surprising for a posh bloke like himself.”

“Why would he be trying to have banter with Hope?” Noah’s eyebrows pushed in closer together as he tried to work it out. Cass’s head bobbed, encouraging him to come to the conclusion. “Does he- wait,” Noah said, looking back over the side, “Is he trying to put it on Hope?”

“Maybe,” Cass answered, grabbing her phone again. “I’m going to text him-“

Noah swatted at the phone, “Why? Why would you do that? Let the man shoot his shot.”

“It was going to be an encouraging text!” 

“So he can be distracted? You are a terrible wingwoman. Wait until they are done chatting.”

“Wait,” Cass said, putting her phone back down, “you’re not upset that he’s flirting with Hope?”

Noah looked confused again, “Why would I be upset?”

“Because it’s Hope?”

“You are so dense, Cassandra,” Noah said, running his knuckles against her leg. “I’ve tried to tell you- I didn’t come back for her.”

“Uh, yes you did.”

“I mean, for her like that. I came back for her but so I could talk to her.”

“And have you?”

Noah glanced back over the side, “Every time I say that I have something I need to tell her, she suddenly remembers something very urgent that she needs to do or someone to talk to. Like this morning meeting with the girls, we were in the middle of the breakfast that she made me bring her when I said that I wanted to say something and suddenly she was gathering the troops.” 

Cass sat, swinging her legs out in front of her. “Well, she would have gotten the picture if you had-“

“Yes,” Noah said, sounding amused. “I get it.” He leaned towards her, his hand resting on her thigh. “I’ll talk to her tonight, Cass, I swear.”

Cass nodded silently before turning her head towards him. His head moved forward slightly before looking at her for approval, Cass felt her heart beat against her chest as she nodded slightly and he leaned in further and kissed her. 

“Cass?” 

Cass felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Lucas with a bottle of the suncream. “Oh,” Cass said, looking around and wiping at her face. “I must have- how long have I been sleeping?” 

“Not long,” Lucas said, cheerfully. “Couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes from when I texted you. I got distracted by Hope and Priya shouting.”

Cass felt her heart racing, trying to settle itself after her daydream. “Are they still going at it?”

Lucas shook his head, “Noah came and saved the day. Typical. He really does try to do it all.”

Cass squirted some of the suncream out on her hands and started to rub it in to her legs. “Can you do my back?”

Lucas nodded, taking the bottle back. He motioned for her to turn around and Cass did so, gathering her hair in her hands so he could get to her neck. “You’re not bad at this. Your hands are so soft.”

“Did you want it to be rougher?” he asked, his lips tickling her ear. 

Cass blushed. He clapped, signaling he was done and she turned back. “Ever thought of going to be a masseuse?”

“No,” Lucas answered but pointed at her, “however, you are not the first girl to tell me I’m good with my hands.”

The door opened, Noah was looking at them. Cass’s stomach dropped as Noah avoided eye contact. Maybe, if she could get back to sleep tonight, she would meet daydream Noah but until then she was stuck with this one- who flipped from hot to cold faster than the weather in October. 

“Thought I find you two up here,” he said gruffly. “Marisol’s got a text. There’s a dumping tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I have a little guilt of the bait and switch of what Hope was asking about, but here we are anyways. I do promise that it will be sooner than later that she does find out.


	18. Chapter 18

“When were you going to tell me?” Hope’s voice carried over silence of the night, the Islanders still reeling from the dumping earlier. “Noah, when were you going to tell me?”

Cass was sitting next to Lucas, her stomach in knots. It had been in knots ever since the dumping, watching Noah choose to save Hope over Priya and Shannon. Shannon didn’t take it well, immediately trying to pull Hope to the side before she left, leaving a wave of destruction in her wake. Cass had tried to make herself scarce, not close with anyone who was dumped, but she knew that a storm was coming and she was most likely going to be caught in the midst.

“You alright, Cass?” Lucas asked, resting his chin on her shoulder. 

“Never better,” she said, tapping her fingers against his knee. “How are you? I know you and Priya had been close-“

Lucas sighed, “There was no winning in that situation. Noah… not everything he does I agree with. Actually, most things I don’t. But to choose between those three girls? Brutal.”

“What would you have done?” she asked, her eyes trying to find where Noah and Hope were arguing in the dark. 

“Pretended to faint to buy some time,” he joked. He pulled back, his hand taking her chin and tipping her head so she was facing him. “I’m serious, are you alright?” 

Cass bit her lower lip, “I don’t know.”

“Shannon going out like that wasn’t cool. Noah had to eventually face up to how he chose to spend his time in Casa, but Shannon wasn’t the right vessel for the message.” Lucas’s eyes searched her face and Cass looked away, flushing. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Cass. Don’t let them guilt you the way they do when new girls come in. I’m sure Lottie is going to have a lot to say about this situation.”

* * *

Cass’s eyes were trained on Noah, who stood facing the three girls at risk for elimination. Rahim had just sat back down after whispering something to Noah. Cass cursed the placement that she was on the other side of the bench because she would have paid good money to know what was said. Bobby squeezed her hand on the side of her and she gave him a small smile, not taking her eyes off of Noah’s pained face.

“This is not easy,” Noah said, breaking the silence. Cass’s eyes quickly darted to Hope, who’s face looked crestfallen that he hadn’t already picked her. Cass knew the feeling, having stood in that place just a day ago. “Priya, you deserve more than what you’ve gotten in here- especially from me, I was a lousy excuse for a partner.” Priya waved him off, holding up her hand clasped with Felix’s in response. “Shannon, you deserve more time with Rahim to see if you guys have a lasting connection. And Hope… Hope, you deserve a lot more than me.”

Bobby dropped his head and muttered, “Not the time for this, Noah.”

Cass’s stomach ached, both for Noah who was floundering and for Hope, who Cass couldn’t look at for more than a second but her face was not hiding her hurt. Cass closed her eyes, pressing her her forehead onto Bobby’s shoulder. “Just say Hope,” she whispered, not even sure if Bobby could hear her. Bobby dropped her hand and snaked his arm around her body, rubbing Cass’s shoulder. 

“Hope, it wouldn’t feel right to not have you in the villa.” Cass opened her eyes, peering over Bobby to watch Noah sit back down.

“Mate,” Gary interrupted, “is that… did you pick Hope?”

Noah looked perplexed, “Yes, that’s what I just said.”

Hope stood there for a moment longer before awkwardly stepping forward and walking towards Noah. “That might have been the most romantic thing you’ve said to me yet, Noah,” she joked, laughing a little too loudly before sitting down. 

“Well,” Priya said, stepping forward, “no one rush to say their goodbyes to me.”

With that, Catherine jumped from the bench to envelop Priya in a hug, Bobby following after his partner. 

Shannon cleared her throat, glaring at Noah,, her Irish accent more pronounced as she spoke, “Hope, can I have a chat with you? There are some things you should know.”

* * *

“I want to talk to her.” 

Cass’s body tensed. 

Lucas ruffled Cass’s hair, “She’s not that bad, I promise. She’s just hurt.”

“Easy for you to say,” Cass said, standing up and looking for an exit plan. “I’m not ready for this.”

“You’ll never be ready for it,” Lucas said, standing up and wiping his pants. “It was going to happen eventually. Just apologize.”

Cass made a face, “Why would I apologize? You just told me I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well, she’s hurt?” 

“I didn’t hurt her,” Cass argued. 

“But-“

“I’ll apologize that she was left in the dark but that wasn’t on me. That’s on Noah. All he had to do was come in here, pull he aside and-“

“There she is,” Hope said, strutting over to where Lucas and Cass were. Noah was trailing behind, his hands shoved in his front pockets. “Lucas, can you excuse us? I need to talk to Cass.”

Lucas stepped back but didn’t leave, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Shoo,” Hope said, motioning for him to leave. She spun around, pointing at Noah. “You too, Noah.”

Noah backed away, his hands up. He looked over at Cass and then changed his mind, stepping forward. “We can all talk, Hope. It’s not about Cass.”

“Yes it is,” Hope shot back. “Cass, do you mind if we talk alone?” 

Cass looked at Lucas and Noah, suddenly realizing how insane this scene looked. “No, we can talk,” she said, sitting back down on the lounge chair.

“Cass,” Noah looked at her, his eyebrows practically touching as his brow furrowed in concern. 

Cass threw her hands up, “It’s fine, Noah. Hope deserves a conversation from me, we don’t need bodyguards.”

Lucas leaned in, patting Cass on her back, “We’ll be over there if you need us. Hope,” he said, addressing the other girl, “I’m sorry.”

Hope sat down in the lounger across from Cass and as the light in the background hit her face, Cass could see the tear marks piercing through her otherwise flawless make up. “So,” Hope said, clapping her hands together, “you and Noah.”

“Me and Noah,” Cass nodded, taking a deep breath in. Hope waited. Cass stayed silent. Hope tapped her feet on the ground. Cass opened her mouth, “Well… what do you want to know?”

“I want to know what happened,” Hope said, sounding exasperated. “What else would I be doing here talking to you?”

Cass shrugged, “I think you need to talk to Noah about it, Hope. I am not trying to be elusive, but I’m not sure what I can offer you.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Hope retorted. She shook her head, her braids swinging behind her. “I’ll talk to him when I’m ready. Right now I don’t want to look at him.” She sniffled and Cass went to reach out, to comfort her, before realizing that would probably be the last thing Hope wanted. 

“Hope, I am-“

“Don’t say you are sorry,” Hope interrupted. “I don’t want that right now, I want to know the facts. What-why?” Her face broke and Hope covered her face, letting out muffled sounds of crying.

* * *

Hope looked confused, looking at Shannon and then at Noah.

Rahim stood, walking towards Shannon. “Shannon, let’s go chat for a moment.”

Shannon shook her head, “No, Rahim, you will have to wait. I have things I need to say to Hope.”

Hope continued to look at Noah, as though he was going to provide her all the answers of why this girl Hope had spent next to no time with wanted to spend her last moments in the villa with her.

“It’s about Noah,” Shannon said, her voice rising. “And Cass.”

“Shannon,” Rahim said, turning back to his former partner. “Let’s go-“

“Rahim,” Shannon threw her hands in the air, “you know she deserves to know.”

“Know what?” Hope asked, standing up and walking towards Shannon. “What do I deserve to know? Noah?”

Noah looked resigned to whatever this twist of fate was going to bring, his eyes darting across the firepit to look at Cass. He mouthed, “Sorry” to her before standing up and joining the fray. “Shannon, Hope, maybe we go inside and talk about it.”

“Just tell me,” Hope said, starting to sound frantic. “Shannon? Rahim? What do I need to know?” The rest of the islanders, who had been gathered around Priya, Jakub and Felix, turned to look at the commotion. “What are you all not telling me?”

A hand appeared in front of Cass, she looked up to see Lucas offering it. “Come on, Cass,” he said, looking around. “I think maybe you should get yourself out of the line of fire for Hurricane Shannon.” 

* * *

“Why doesn’t he want me?” Hope sputtered out, her walls crumbling. 

Cass stood up and sat down next to Hope, knowing that this might be the last thing Hope wanted but she couldn’t not comfort the girl as she cried. “I don’t,” Cass started. She put her arm around Hope, ‘I don’t think it was about that.”

Hope wiped her tears away from her face, composing herself, “Then what is it? I don’t see anything you offer that I don’t have.”

Cass felt Hope’s shot land but tried not to react. “No, probably not.” Cass struggled to find any words for Hope in this moment, “I think the answers you want only Noah can give you.”

“Shannon said you threw yourself at him.” Cass laughed, despite the situation. Hope smiled slightly, “Yeah, I thought she might be embellishing a little. She was ready to burn the villa on her way out.” 

Cass scooted away from Hope slightly, “Noah cares about you.” Hope made a sound of disbelief. “He does, in his very Noah way. He chose you, in the end.”

“This is choosing me?”

“I mean, no,” Cass agreed. “That might be the wrong words, but he chose not to bring me back.”

Hope turned, her face changing somehow and she looked more guarded. “And you let me walk around the last day and a half and think we were happy? What about looking out for your fellow woman? What about girl code?” 

Cass felt whiplash at the turn of the conversation and opened her mouth to respond, but didn’t have the words to. “I-“

“You what? Were waiting for him to dump me to swoop in? And what about Lucas? Were you planning on dragging him along until you found someone better?” 

“Hope, I-“

Hope stood up, wiping the remaining tears on her face, “Well, Cass, you might not know me that well but you should know that I never give in without a fight and I always get what I want. Noah doesn’t know what he wants yet, but he’ll remember that he wants me. Trust that.”

Cass was stunned, her eyes wide in shock as Hope walked away from her. She heard footsteps behind her and Lucas came into view. 

“What just happened?”

“I think she declared war,” Cass said, looking behind them where Hope was dragging Noah away. 


	19. Chapter 19

Cass was surprised that the rest of the night went by without drama. Everyone retreated to their own corners and while Lucas and her had been practically outed as fake, he stuck to her side for the rest of the night. Noah and Hope were nowhere to be find, which Cass tried not to spend too much time thinking about. 

Although it took her a long time to get some sleep, she resisted leaving the bed she shared with Bobby to go to the balcony- afraid what she could or could not find there. So when the morning light crept in, Cass tried to sit up quietly and take a look around. Everyone was in their rightful place in their bed and she felt comfortable enough to slip her legs out of the covers and head to the kitchen.

The air was damp with humidity as she stepped outside, starting a pot for tea. Once the water boiled, Cass poured herself a cup and headed to chairs near the pool. Not for the first time she wished that she had more than a phone that only let her text the other Islanders to entertain herself in the early morning hours. Would it kill production to give her access to an audiobook?

Given what happened last night, she knew the peace that she had right then wouldn't last long.

In an hour or so (she estimated based on the sun movements), Cass heard the soft padding of footsteps behind her. 

“Are you ever going to get a proper night of sleep, Cass?” Lucas said, yawning as he plopped down next to her.

“Here? Probably not,” Cass said, pulling herself up slightly so Lucas could fit his arm around her. “Too much to think about.”

“What occupied your mind last night?”

Cass sighed, “I tried to picture all the hiding places.”

His hand squeezed her upper arm, “You planning on hiding?”

“Just from Hope. Maybe for a day or so. I think I could fit in the cupboard under the sink, what do your reckon?”

“That’s a possibility. What about on top of the roof? I’ll give you a lift.”

Cass smiled, “I don’t really know what to do, Lucas. I’m sure you are sick of talking about it, but I feel exposed for the first time since coming in here. Like a sitting duck waiting for the hunter to load up another round.”

“Ducks can fly away, Cass.” 

They were interrupted by the sliding door and two people they didn’t recognize appearing. 

“You lot are supposed to still be sleeping,” one of them called out. She had a gold halter top bathing suit that Cass hoped they didn’t have any activity where they had to raise her hands above her head. “We were your breakfast in bed options.”

Lucas sat straighter, pulling his arm off of Cass. Cass snickered to herself from this reaction as the two girls approached. The other one looked muscular in a way that rivaled Rahim’s body, and made her all too aware of her sedentary life inside the villa. He practically jumped off of the chair. “I’m Lucas,” he said, as the two approached.

The gold halter girl sneered, “We know who you are, love, but what’s important is that you know who we are. I’m Elissa.”

“I’m Jo,” the other said, her voice lacking the confidence that Elissa’s carried. 

“It’s great to meet you,” Lucas said, his eyes not leaving Elissa’s face. “And what do you two do?”

A head popped out of the slider, Noah looking cautiously outside. He met Cass’s eyes and before she could look away, he motioned for her to come near. Cass looked at the two new girls and Lucas, who looked in heaven, and decided to give Lucas a head start on the other lads. 

Cass excused herself, walking to the door. “What’s up, Noah?” 

“Can we chat?” he asked, his voice low and she could still hear the sleep seeping into it. 

Cass looked around, “We’re chatting now.”

“Privately?”

“No one’s around.”

“They’re about to be.” He reached for her hand, hovering for a second before Cass opened her palm up to him and let him take it. He led her to the balcony, and shut the door behind them. “Sorry for the rush, I’m not sure how much time I’ll have by myself today.”

Cass scoffed, “Didn’t you two go to bed together last night? Seems like you welcome the company.”

“I went to bed, Cass,” Noah said, his eyes searching her face desperately. “To sleep. Hope was tired too, I guess.” He shrugged, “I didn’t want to go over it again. She’s made me explain it over and over again.”

“You should-“

“I know, Cass,” he said, gripping her hand. “Let me just get out what I want to say, please.”

Cass liked how her hand fit in his. She liked that her hand felt small between his fingers. An electric current ran through her body as he moved his index finger against the inside of her wrist. She wanted to write him off, tell him to get lost. She wanted to move on. However, when coming face to face with him, what she really wanted was to be closer to him and so she nodded, letting him continue. 

“I want to be with you,” Noah said, plainly. “I want-“ he shook his head, starting over. “The closest I felt to anyone in this villa was the night we shared a bed, Cass. I should have told you that then. I should have told you all of this before. When I was laying in bed last night next to Hope, I knew how stupid I’ve been. How much of an absolute idiot I was to put someone before you. When I woke up this morning, my first thought was you. When I went to bed last night, my last thought was you. I think I was scared of it before but I don’t want to settle anymore.”

Cass felt tears coming to her eyes. In her years with Theodore, he had never expressed his feelings like that. No one had ever said words like that to her before. She opened her mouth to respond before the door was pulled open.

“There you are, Noah,” Chelsea said cheerfully before taking in that he was not alone. “Good morning, Cass. Funny to find the two of you up here together.” She sat on the bench by the door. “Noah, you ran away from me in the bathroom. I was telling you all about the last apartment I decorated and I turned around and you were gone.”

“Sorry, Chels,” Noah said through gritted teeth. He eyed Cass, pointing at Chelsea with his head subtly and Cass understood, now, the urgency that he pulled her up here. “Did you need me for something?”

Chelsea twirled a piece of hair between her fingers, “Oh, no. I wanted to hang out with you. I think we have a good thing going. You’re so tall, I’m so short. It makes for a good friendship, don’t you think?”

“Height?”

“Sure. You can reach all the things on the top shelf for me.”

Noah sighed, “Chelsea, what do you want?”

Chelsea feigned offense, her hand over her heart, before breaking out into a smile. “You know me too well, Noah. Hope thought it would be nice if I got to know you more. She told me that we probably have loads in common. Honestly though,” she leaned in towards the two of them “I haven’t found any similar traits yet. You’re tall, I’m funny, you’re tall…”

Noah laughed, “Is that all you know about me? That I’m tall?”

“And that you like books. I’m more of a magazine person.”

Cass felt her hand squeezed by Noah’s and was comforted by the fact that Noah hadn’t immediately dropped it in front of Chelsea, who was sent to watch Noah by Hope even if she wasn’t aware that was what she was doing. “Hey Chels,” Cass cut in. “Did you know there are new girls downstairs?”

Chelsea’s eyes lit up as she hopped off the bench to look over the side. “Oh my god, they are so pretty! Do you think Gary will like them more than me? Although, I guess he’s back with Lottie.” She sat back down and pouted for a second before bouncing back. “So, what were you guys talking about before I got here?”

“We were almost done, Chels,” Noah said. “Why don’t you go downstairs and welcome the newbies? You’re really good at that. And then, after, we can learn more about each other.”

Chelsea’s eyebrows raised, “I feel like this is a trick. I’m supposed to stick by your side.”

“We’ll be glued together after this, I promise.”

Chelsea stood, shrugging, “Okay! But, if Hope asks, I never let you out of my sight.”

They watched her leave and Noah sunk down, “It’s exhausting trying to have a conversation in here.”

“I can’t wait to see the dynamic duo of Noah and Chelsea,” she teased him. 

Noah shook his head, “She has so much energy. It’s like trying to do story time to the five year olds at the library. Sweet, but it’s a lot.”

“So,” Cass said, her thumb running against his hand. “About what you were saying.”

Noah nodded, “Ah, yes, back to me pouring out my heart.”

“It was nice,” she said, looking up at him, her cheeks flushing. 

“I knew what I did was stupid,” he said, his eyes not leaving hers. “I didn’t know how stupid it was. I know that was naive of me, but I couldn’t see the ripple effects it would have. If you would be stupid enough to give me another chance, I would say your name every time going forward.” 

Cass leaned into him, kissing him gently. “You can stop talking now,” she said, letting go of the resentment she felt towards him. He wanted her, they could be together. Cass pulled away, “What about-“

“Hope,” Noah groaned. “I need… a day. Or two. I know how that sounds.”

“Honestly,” Cass said, letting her lips trail against his jawline. “After last night, I get it.”

“So,” he said, looking at her with a large grin. “We’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this,” Cass agreed. 


	20. Chapter 20

“Where have you been this morning?” Bobby asked, wiggling his eyebrows as he pressed his hand on top of the blender and started it. Cass rolled her eyes at his timing and waited for the noise of the ice crushing to die down. As he took his hand off the top, he peered over the top of it. “Want some? Rocco had some weird recipes but he had one smoothie that he would make that was amazing- I am trying to recreate it based on my taste recollection alone.”

Cass gave one look to the green, sludgy smoothie and shook her head. “No, thank you. I’ll let you be the guinea pig.”

Bobby poured the smoothie into a glass and gave it a sip. His face pulled no punches as he put the glass back down. “Alright. There are major improvements to be had. I’ll have to get others to try it and tell me what I’m missing.”

“Good luck with that,” Cass said, making a face as Bobby tried another sip. 

Bobby shuddered again, “The second sip was not any better. Anyways,” he said, placing the glass back down on the counter and pushing it away from him, “you missed all the festivities this morning. And,” he said, jumping to sit up on the counter, “so did someone else.”

Cass bit the insider of her lip as she tried not to look too gleeful. She still felt a little dazed, in the best way possible, from her morning conversation. “I don’t know who you are talking about. I got up early, hung out with Lucas, met the new girls-“

“Fast forward, lass,” Bobby yawned. “I know where you were this morning, Lucas already told me. He said you disappeared with Noah and I want the details.”

“You are so nosy.”

Bobby threw his head back in a laugh, “That I am. I still haven’t spotted Noah. I thought, maybe, you finally threw him over the walls of the villa.”

She stuck her tongue out, playfully. “I’m not that strong, Bobby. Also, where is everyone?” 

“Rahim and Lucas are on dates with the new girls,” Bobby replied. “The girls are… somewhere.”

Her face lit up in response, “Lucas got a date? Which one took him? Was he excited?”

“That boy has no luck in love in here so I’m not holding out hope, but it was with Elissa. She’s a social media star? Something like that. He seemed excited before she mentioned her job- doesn’t seem like that would be up his alley.” 

Cass took the glass where the smoothie sat on the counter and looked into it, “Bobby, I don’t think you blended this anywhere near long enough. It has chunks of green leaves.”

“I’m a cake maker, Cassandra, not a smoothie blender. I can not be perfect.” Bobby’s face got serious, “I know you’ve said you and Lucas are not going to happen- but are you sure? It seemed like you were getting on the last couple of days.”

Shaking her head, Cass gave a sad smile. “No, for the last time. Lucas is great and maybe in a different life, a different villa, it would be different. I made my choice though and good or bad, I’m never going to make him out to be second best.”

“You say that, but it doesn’t feel like second best. It feels like you could have just made a decision with the information you had on hand but what if it was the wrong decision?”

“I have a feeling that you just selfishly want me to stay in the villa,” Cass teased. 

Bobby put his hands up, “You caught me. I don’t want to see my best mate leave.”

Cass held her hands to her chest. “Your best mate?” she squealed, walking over with her hands up in the air. “Come on, you get a hug for that one.” He hopped down and Cass reached up to hug him, patting her hand against his back. Her face against his chest, she muttered, “Also, I was with Noah earlier.”

Bobby pulled back, his hands around her upper arms, “I knew it.”

“Wasn’t trying to take Noah from Hope enough for you, Cass?” the Australian accent gave Lottie away, although the disapproving tone in her voice was another obvious tell. “Do I need to go get Catherine?”

Cass looked at Bobby, physically biting her tongue not to respond. 

Bobby’s long arms reached over to grab Lottie and pulled her into the embrace, wrapping his arms around the both of them. “Come on, Lottie, can’t we all just be friends? No need to be hostile to my friend, Cass.”

Lottie pushed herself off him and glared, “I’m not hostile. I am a good friend. As a good friend, I can not support the other woman.”

“The other woman?” Bobby clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, making an audible sound. “Lottie, you don’t have to be a solider for Hope.” He reached over to grab the glass of the smoothie and offered it to Lottie. “Can you be a test taster for me? I’m trying to recreate one of Rocco’s smoothies?”

Cass decided to remove herself from the situation before Lottie realized that Bobby’s concoction was more salad than smoothie and exited the kitchen area into the cool air conditioned inside of the villa. She wasn’t sure where anyone was, having spent the morning up on the balcony trying to stop herself from smiling so much. Noah had left her alone shortly after they had decided that they were worth trying to go appease Chelsea and her mission to become friends. She hadn’t seen him since, but had alternated between napping and replaying the morning conversation in her mind.

As she took the corner into the living room area of the villa, she felt an arm reach out and grab her- pulling her into the bathroom. 

“We meet again,” Noah said, biting his lip as he spun her lightly around and pushed her against the sink. 

“Anyone could walk in here,” Cass said, her eyes trained against the opening to the room. The one thing about the villa the she would not miss was the lack of privacy. The rooms were set up for drama, not privacy and anyone could have walked into the bathroom and seen them. As the plan was to not rock the boat just yet with Hope, she wasn’t sure it was worth the risk. However, she was glad that he was risking it. 

Noah leaned into her, kissing the nape of her neck. “Isn’t that half the fun?”

“Not if you want to have a nice, private conversation with Hope as your goal.”

“Let me worry about her,” Noah murmured, his lips pressed against her collarbone. “Chelsea went off to go upload all the information she learned from me in the hours of quizzing me about my childhood.”

Cass laughed, “Did you tell her anything good? Anything I should know?”

“I had a slight speech impediment until I was seven. My parents took me to speech pathologists, but it turned out that it was caused by all of the ear infections I had causing me not to be able to hear that well.” 

“Anything a little more juicy?”

Noah looked at her, his eyes twinkling, “I lost my virginity at 17- older than what was socially acceptable in my group of friends, but younger than what I was probably ready for. I had my first kiss when I was 12. I had a string of uni girlfriends who would all say I was a terrible boyfriend but who I am still friends with today. And I don’t think I’ve ever, truly, been in love.” Cass frowned. “I’ve upset you? Which one should I claim to be a lie?”

“No,” she said, pushing her hands on the counter to give her a slight height boost to kiss him. “It just makes me sad, for you, if you’ve never been in love. Even if Theodore ended up stomping on my heart and throwing it away, I did love him and I think that being in love with him was transformative for me.”

Noah’s fingers dug into her hips as he lifted her on to the counter, “I have never been good at being open about my feelings.”

“You don’t say,” she teased.

“I get myself into relationships where I stow part of myself away, maybe so I don’t get hurt, and then realize that, to no fault of their own, the person I am with is not the person for me. And then,” he looked towards the doorway, “I stay until they realize that I am not the one for them. I probably would have done the same thing here except…” he trailed off, looking back at her. 

Cass bit her cheek, trying to keep herself from smiling. “And you told all of this to Chelsea?”

Noah stifled a laugh, “God, no. I told her my favorite color, favorite sport, favorite outfit, favorite piece of furniture- she was disappointed by the answer to that one.”

“What is it?”

“I have this reading chair- it’s the old, leather chair. I found it at an estate sale a couple of years ago. She wants to refurbish it.”

Cass shook her head, “I’m sure Chelsea would want to make it pink and furry.”

Noah smirked, “I told her I would let her see it after the show, but she’s not allowed to touch it.”

“Smart.”

They both heard voices outside of the room and Cass reluctantly slid off the counter and Noah took a step back. “I took up all our time telling you about my boring life.”

Cass squeezed his hand, “It’s not boring, and I want to know more about you.”  


Noah kissed her, his lips lingering on hers before the voices got closer. “Find me later?”

Cass nodded, letting Noah leave the bathroom before her, which gave her time to look at herself in the mirror and assess. The bags under her eyes were prominent, to say the least. She was going to have to try something to get to sleep tonight or she was going to pay for it with these bags for ever. Her face was flushed and she ran some cold water quickly, splashing it on to her red cheeks, before she counted to ten and exited the bathroom.

* * *

“Tell me about the date,” Cass said, her and Lucas sitting near the fire pit. “Is she the one?”

Lucas sighed, “I don’t know about that. She seems great- self assured, which I am in to, gorgeous, successful… but I don’t think there is a spark.”

“Did you have fun, at least?”

“I did love getting out of the villa,” Lucas said, sounding dejected. 

“You know,” she said, squeezing his knee, “she might not be the one, but there could still be the one coming in.” 

Lucas slumped down, “Maybe this experience is not the right one for me to find someone. I might need to accept that as the reality.”

“There’s still hope.”

“Hope as in the person or hope as in the feeling?”

“I was going for the feeling but both work.”

Lucas took a deep breath in, “She doesn’t want me if Noah is there.”

“She is going to have to move on and who better than you? You’re gorgeous and kind-“

They were interrupted by loud voices coming from the lawn. Elissa and Chelsea were both raising the voices at each other, and Cass thought she heard the phrase ‘gossip sneezer’ coming from one of them. 

“Ah, shit,” Lucas stood up. “Should we go see what that is all about?” 

“You go,” Cass said, not particularly invested in whatever the drama of the day being served was. She stood and walked off in the opposite direction of Lucas, towards the beach hut. She had seen Noah going in there through the corner of her eye and she thought she might be able to catch him as he walked out. 

Instead, as the door opened, Cass ran into Hope, who was exiting with red, swollen eyes. Hope scoffed at her as she rushed passed Cass. “I guess congratulations are in order,” Hope said, her voice sharp. “You’ve won.”

Noah appeared a second later, looking worse for the wear. “Hope,” he said, his voice gentle which might have made it worse. 

Hope didn’t respond with words but hurried away from the two of them.

Cass looked guiltily at Noah. “You said to find you earlier,” her voice cracked. “I thought I saw you come in here alone.”

Noah took her hand in his, “It’s not your fault. I can’t think of a single scenario where it would have gone well. It’s not Hope’s fault, either. I oversold and failed to deliver. I told her things that I knew were not true so that she would be happy. It’s no wonder she’s upset.” He hung his head, dropping her hand. “If you don’t mind, Cass, I think I might retire early for the night and make myself a place on the couch.”

“No, yeah, of course,” Cass said in response, trying to sound supportive. “Do what you have to do.”

Noah leaned over and kissed the top of her head, “I promise to be less morose tomorrow.” 

He started to walk away before Cass called him back. “Hey, Noah?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you try to not overpromise with me?” she asked, her voice hesitant. “I mean, if you want out, you can just tell me.”

“I don’t,” he sounded confused. “I don’t want out.”

“I mean in the future,” Cass said, cursing herself for saying anything. 

Noah scratched his brow, “Cass, I am doing my best to try to be different with you. This,” he said, looking straight at her, “it feels different.” Cass nodded wordlessly in response, not feeling anything she could say would be adequate. “Alright, then,” he returned her nod. “Goodnight.” 


End file.
